We wondered if this was the year we didn?t go

The Kennedale Wildcat band heads out today for the state marching championships at the Alamodome in San Antonio. For 4A bands, Wednesday is contest day. It begins early for the Wildcats with their prelims scheduled for 9:15 a.m. {{more: continue …}}That will be followed by a long wait until midafternoon when the 10 finalists are announced. Final performances are scheduled that evening.

But it wasn?t a sure thing the Kennedale would even be there, at least according to Director of Bands, Erol Oktay. Oktay is a 27 year education veteran, the last 17 in KISD. He is the chief architect of the Kennedale band program?s rise to prominence. What has happened is every teacher?s dream – seven tries and seven trips to the state championships.

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Describing the situation leading up to the Wildcat?s earning another trip to state, Oktay said, ?Three weeks ago we were at Princeton and didn?t perform as well as we had in the past.? He went on, ?We were in the finals but just barely. And, some of us said well maybe this is the year that we don?t make it [state].

The kids were the difference ?

Oktay continued, ?The show just wasn?t jelling the way we wanted but the kids recognized that and they have really worked hard the last three weeks to make it happen. ? and to get where they are today.?

For any band program it is a long haul from summer through November. For the students, it means giving up Saturdays, Friday nights and spending hours after school each day.

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it is a process …?

Oktay calls it part of the process, ?Our goal from the beginning is to get better every week. To be a finalist in our competitions and eventually come out of the area competition as the best. It is a confidence building process ? so that we head into state knowing we are the best representing our area.?

Kennedale schedules several marching band festivals prior to the state UIL contests. The UIL band contests are in reverse order of athletics. First comes region and then area which leads to state.

At region, the goal is earns ?1? on each part of the performance. If that is done, you have the opportunity to advance to area. There are 7 UIL areas in the Texas. Kennedale?s stretches north to south and along I35, a huge area which includes the most populous sections of the state. At area contest this year, there were 27 4A bands that had qualified and choose to compete. Among those were Godley, Alvarado, Kennedale, Springtown and Castleberry, all schools known for the quality of their band programs. The top five performances were selected to advance to state. To give you how competitive this local region can be, three of the five, Kennedale, Springtown and Castleberry were selected.

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area champions …?

The best news was that Kennedale had the top scores in the preliminaries and repeated that in the final performance, putting Kennedale as the top performing band out of the area and one of just 7 from across the state. This has happen twice before when Kennedale was the area champions in 2008 and again in 2014.

Oktay acknowledges that this takes a lot of people to make it all work and come together at state.

?We got a great working relationship with [Athletic Director] Richard Barrett ? he always says let him know when we need the field or the use of the indoor facilities ? and it ours to use. He has been a great supporter of our program. We have a great situation here with the stadium is next door and then there is the indoor facility when there is bad weather.

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“And of course the high school teachers and staff have been great in working with our students ans supporting us throughout the years. Thanks to Mr. Cagle and all at the high school.”?

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secret weapon …?

For Oktay and the real secret by any school band program are the parents. ?We have great parents ? they are invaluable. We have at least 25 parents at every performance that help in many different ways from putting plumes on the hats of the students, checking uniforms, keeping the kid hydrated especially so in the early months of August and September, taking care of someone who becomes ill, moving equipment and props on and off the field. Oktay says that timing is everything, whether it is getting loaded/unloaded, prepping for the performance or getting off the field in time for the other band to perform or the football teams to warm-up. ?Everyone has a part to play and the parent really are important.?

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Not only that, Oktay says, ?Our band booster club is the reason we are taking charter buses to San Antonio. While the school district provides school buses, the parents wanted to make sure that the kids travelled in something more and helped raised the money to make it possible.

And then there are the students themselves ??

Band officers for 2018

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• Drum Majors: Head Drum Major: Blair Bowman, and Assistant Drum Majors: McKendry Walsh and Megan Tucker.
• Color Guard Captains: Dakota Chapman and Portia Brandenburg
• Drumline Captain: Andrew Brannon
• Brass Captain: Makenna Kramer
• Woodwind Captain Madison Suchsland
• Squad Leaders: Tyler Weckherlin, Sarah Wyckoff, Allen Constantino, Colton Zahradnik?

Leadership begins with the Seniors of the Class of 2019

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UIL KHS Wildcat State Band Roster (student and staff)

Male band members in alphabetical order:

Acosta, Jay; Ashton, Logan; Bowman, Elvon; Brandenburg, Robert (Logan); Brannon, Andrew; Buchanan, Connor; Buyco, Aaron; Cargile, Thomas; Carranza, Carlos; Castellanos, Lehi; Cerda Malec, Matthew; Chapman, Dakota; Collins, Hunter; Conner, Micah; Constantino, Allen; Crisp, Jimmy; Crisp, Tommy; Elwood, Calvin; Enriquez, Andy; Flores, Luis; Fox, Joshua; Garcia, Victor; Garza, Emmanual; Gipson, Rishaun; Goodspeed, Brian; Greene, Deondre; Greenslade, Lance; Greenwood, Ajay; Griffin, Ryan; Grubbs, Cole; Gulseth, Joshua; Guttery, Rayce; Guzman, Jesus;

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Hackler, Brayden; Harrelson, Arthur (Trey); Harrelson, Brett; Holcomb, Kristopher; Huynh, Hoang; Jaime, Christian; Kanter, Edgar; Kerbow, Garrett; Kirk, Andrew; Lehew, Triston; Lerro, Shane; Lopez, Jason; Lowery, Max; Magallon, Omar; Mantell, James; Marical, Greg; Martinez, Hayden; Mendoza, Daniel; Middleton, Samuel; Miller, Ethan; Moore, Jace; Mowrer, Dylan; Ngo, Luc; Nguyen, Allen; Nguyen, David; Obsiana, Carl (CT); Obsiana, Christern (CL); Ojeda, Christopher; Ondarza, Julian; Payne, Braelen; Powers, Logan; Prock, Issac; Quick, Andrew;

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Reed, Garth; Riffe, Grayson; Robertson, Cameron; Robertson, Jonathan; Rodgers, Kaleb; Roller, Ryan; Roof, Spicer; Salazar, Marcos; Sanders, Jeremiah; Shaw, Austin; Stewart, John (Nick); Stites, Ian; Stone, Morgan; Teran-Estrada, Carlos; Thornton, Dylan; Venegas, Jonathan; Warren, Dylan; Wecherlin, Tyler; Whitaker, Christion; Wilson, Colby; Wilson, Jordan; Young, Alexander; Zahradnik, Colton; Zare-Mehjerdi, Alex.

Female band members in alphabetical order:

Bibb, Hailey; Bowman, Blair; Brady, Kellie; Brandenburg, Portia; Bundy, Alexis; Carranza, Catherine; Castaneda, Alondra; Constantino, Amaya; Cox, Arwyn; Do, Maianh; Estrada, Elizabeth; Fontenot, Elisabeth; Geneva, Victoria; Goss, Emma; Griffin, Lauren; Guzman, Noelia; Hall, Emma; Harrelson, Elizabeth; Henley, Nasanna; Herrera, Diana; Howe, Jaelen; Hurst, Abigail; Ibarra, Gracelynn;

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Jaramillo, Noelia; Jennings, Sarah; Klee, Isabel; Kramer, Makenna; LeClear, Stephanie; Lopez, Selene; Malone, Whitney; Martin, Camryn; Maryman, Mariah; Mayer, Belle; McHugh, Julia; Mendez, Evelyn; Mora, Isabella; Moreno, Alexandra; Murphy, Allie; Ondarza, Briann; Orahood, Rosie; Ortiz, Marisela; Oyegunle, Grace; Pham, Michelle; Prebe, Rachel; Randolph, Jessica; Rios, Ally;?

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Saenz, Alex; Sanders, Krystin; Seay, Kayla; Sellers, Kate; Sisemore, Mackenzie; Smith, Kailey; Spradley, Tatum; Stites, Kristy; Suchsland, Madison; Thomas, Summer; Thorn, Avery; Tran, Trinity; Tran, Tristina; Trejo, Carolyn; Tucker, Megan; Valentin, Nicole; Walker, M’kynleah; Walsh, McKendry; Williams, Devonyae; Williams, Nadia; Wyckoff, Sarah; Yates, Jordyn; Young, Adlynn; Zurbuchen, Madison?

Band Directors (l-r) Assistants Benjamin Brown, Josie Inman, Director Erol Oktay, Assistants Eleanor Marcias and Christopher Koenig

Assistant Band Directors: Josie Inman, Christopher Koenig, Eleanor Macias and Benjamin Brown; Color Guard Instructor: Andre Armendariz; Front Ensemble Tech:?Jack Driscoll; Head Band Director:?Erol Oktay