LOUISVILLE, Colo. — On the final stop of our “Hearts of Champions” tour, I visited Monarch High School in the Boulder Valley School District.
The 96-member marching band is getting ready for their upcoming season with hopes of competing in the Colorado Bandmasters Association’s 4A state championship finals at Air Force Academy Falcon Stadium this October.
Chuck Stephen, Monarch High School's band director, is trying to continue the band’s winning tradition of finishing in the top five in Colorado Springs.
“We’ve had three top four finishes with last year placing second as the silver medalist,” Stephen said. “Each year, the excellence level gets a little bit higher and higher.”
That expectation starts at their summer band camp. Despite the triple-digit temperatures and smoky conditions from the wildfires in Colorado, the high school's marching band preseason camp took place two weeks before the first day of school. The two-week camp entails students learning the basics of marching, learning drills for their show and playing their instruments for their competitive show. The camps last for eight to 10 hours a day in the heat of early August.
“This is the most intense two weeks of the whole season,” Stephen said. “If we don’t do that, we’re going to feel like we’re behind the rest of the season. So this gives us a great springboard because once school starts, there’s only 10 weeks left.”
The camp goes beyond teaching marching and playing techniques: it’s also a time for students to bond. Marching members learn skills like group collaboration, time management and, most importantly, how to support one another. Stephen believes it’s all about students being engaged.
“I think this activity has become more important than ever just to have kids in the moment,” Stephen said. “In a day and age where kids are so focused on cell phones and devices, we need activities like this that they’re in the present moment, they’re cooperating with their teammates.”
Daniel Weaver is one of those teammates. He’s a senior and the tuba section leader in the band. In December of 2021, Weaver felt the backing of his marching band community after his family lost their home during the Marshall Fire. The fire spread across sections of Boulder County destroying 1,084 homes including Weaver’s and several of his classmates.
“The only things we took with us when we evacuated were my instruments and my dogs,” Weaver said. “I just had a lot of people reaching out to me asking, ‘Do you need help? Do you need a place to stay?’ and it was really incredible seeing it. It helped me through the whole thing.”
It was an experience Weaver said he learned from.
“A bunch of people came and donated instruments,” Weaver said. “So, in our mantra of just always being at our best no matter what… we’re there to support each other.”
Last year, the marching band came together as one and captured second place in the state 4A championship finals. This year, they’re setting their expectations high again as motivation during the summer band camp.
“The hardest thing about band camp is trying to make sure that we’re still always at our best even when it’s hot,” Weaver said. “On days like this, it gets really tiring so the hardest part is making sure you are taking care of yourself and just finding that motivation to just keep going.”
Monarch’s marching band kicks off their competitive season next week at their 8th annual Monarch Marching Festival. Stephen hopes the learning experiences of summer band camp will carry them through the season and into October.
“You learn to work as a team. You learn to be selfless. You learn how to delay gratification,” Stephen said. “You’re putting in all this hard work now to pay off in three months and I think it’s a huge lesson for kids.”
Editor's note: This story is part of 9NEWS' "Hearts of Champions: Marching across Colorado" series, where we highlighted marching bands across the state.
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