AURORA, Colo. — The Smoky Hill High School marching band is preparing to finish up their season with a couple of seniors who have a bond that goes beyond the band room. Trumpet player Donovan Light and his best friend, Nolan Dauer, joined the Smoky Hill Regiment marching band their freshman year facing a challenge that they were willing to face. Donovan was born with a condition that affects his spine and must rely on getting around either in a wheelchair or on his crutches.
“I was born with a disability called spina bifida,” Light said. “The waist down is broken so my brain can’t send signals down to my legs as well as it can to my upper body. Anything from my waist down is paralyzed.”
Donovan’s love of marching band started when he and Nolan were in the middle school band and were invited to attend one of the high school football games and participate in the band. He said ever since then, he knew that’s what he wanted to do.
“It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of people that encouraged me to join marching band,” Light said. “It was me wanting to definitely join marching band because it looked like a lot of fun.”
So, his best friend Nolan Dauer literally stepped in to help. Nolan volunteered to be his “marching band buddy” and came to every rehearsal and band event to help Donovan navigate on the football field during performances and in parades.
“I realized the connection that I can’t play but he can, and I can move but he can’t,” Dauer said. “So, I offered to him what we call the 50/50 pact where I’ll learn the drill and learn how to maneuver us, and he’ll learn the music and keep us in time.”
The two have been in the marching band for the past three years. Their first year of high school was during the pandemic and band director Zak Ruffert was trying to find a way to use them in their competitive show.
“Nolan came to us and offered to come and be that person exclusively for the entire season and that was three years ago,” Ruffert said. “For me, they just blend into the group, and I’ve really had to make no extra accommodations because those two work together to figure it out whatever the challenge might be every single time.”
Now, after spending three years together on the practice field, Donovan and Nolan are finally rehearsing for their last performance underneath the lights on a Friday night.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Dauer said. “It gives me more time to hang out with my best friend and more time for me to learn what it’s like to be in the marching band.”
“I’m thinking without him, I wouldn’t be here at all,” added Light. “He’s basically part of this family now and he gets to be included too.”
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