Changes have come to the Trojan Guard for the upcoming 2016-2017 season. A major decision was made and now things for the band are different.

“I liked it better before but I understand why we made the change,” said junior Rebekah Hallman.

Band director Jarrod O’Donnell and the band students have decided to go non-competitive, meaning they will not represent Atlantic in major competitions. “I talked to the kids and asked them if we should and they thought if we cut back on competition, then they could have more time for other things,” said O’Donnell.

The band will also do a new show each week for football games. Each week will have a different theme and songs. O’Donnell hopes that if the band does this, it will inspire more students to join band.

“I’m going to miss competitive marching but I hope that doing non-competitive will get more people to join band,” said junior and drum major Riley Seufert.

At the beginning of the season the band started out with 72 members, but currently have 67. This is a big step up from last year when they had 54 members.

“I like how we have new songs each week instead of just learning 8 for the whole season. This way it opens the students to a new and wide variety of music.” said O’Donnell.