OAKTON, Va. — A Fairfax County high school marching band won $15,000 for new equipment after their performance dedicated to the iconic band Metallica. This was a part of the Metallica marching band competition called For Whom the Band Tolls.
They competed against more than 450 other schools across the country and proved they were the Master of Puppets performing a medley of the heavy metal band’s hits. The majority enjoyed the element of surprise with the students changing mid-performance and wearing Metallica-style wigs.
“We’ve never done anything like it before and I felt really honored this year to be a drum major for it,” said senior band member, Terran Henderson.
Students say all the extra time put into making this routine makes this win so much sweeter.
“It really shows us that what we did and all the hard work and time and sweat and energy we put in paid off,” Henderson said.
“We set the structure as the band staff but they really are the ones that actually have to do the work and put in the effort and care about the outcome,” VanValkenburg said.
This project took a lot of work from not just the students but also the parents who stepped in to help behind the scenes.
“The parents they, they built the props, designed the props,” VanValkenburg said. “We had parents there with multiple camera angles and were able to zoom in on soloist.”
Now the 15,000 dollars that the band won will be put towards new musical equipment.
“I’m glad that we got the chance to give back to maybe the future cougars who are coming and that really means a lot to us,” Senior drum major, Juri Sho said.
As the memory remains of this experience for students like Juri Sho, she said she’s happy to inspire the next group of students coming in.
"If you actually try to work hard and work for something you can do whatever you want to achieve,” Show said.
Click here to watch their full performance.
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