Seniors Sylvia Young, Braden McMakin, Christian Tebeau, Chasteanne Salvosa and Kyle Pridgeon look back at their last year of Winter Guard and reminisce about how much hard work was put into the season.

“(Guard) is extremely challenging but worth it, I would feel this way no matter the win but that made it all worth it,” Salvosa said.

Through the losses and wins, the Winter Guard team continued to work hard. All that hard work paid off when the Guard returned home with gold, taking first place at the Mid Continent Color Guard Association (MCCGA) championships at Nixa High School in Springfield, Mo.

“What I’m most proud of is winning gold, it made me happy to see how everyone had grown,” Tebeau said.

All the seniors had accomplished amazing things during their guard experience.

“My biggest accomplishment this season was really putting in the work to better myself at what I love to do, which also helped me better the team,” Pridgeon said.

Young said her biggest accomplishment was “the team getting first place at championships.”

Like Pridgeon, McMakin said “my biggest accomplishment is the development in character that it gave me. Guard taught me patience with myself and with situations while at the same time manifesting a sense of purpose in my life. It kept me busy in a way that wasn’t dreadful; it was more peaceful.”

As the seniors leave, they continue to help out the guard by recruiting new members.

Pridgeon thinks people should join guard because “it really is like a family, you spend a lot of time with amazing people and you bond unbreakable relationships, which is pretty cool.”

Another reason to join guard, according to Tebeau, is that no matter your experience, it’s a good environment to learn with these people.

“Guard can be a place to work hard and reach the goals you set for yourself and for a lot of people it could be that,” Tebeau said. “You’ll never know if you’ll like it until you try it.”

If guard interests you, fall season tryouts are May 1-3. Try out and you may just find you love it.