Page 23 - 2019 Senior Will

To my tenor babies: I hope your rookie season was everything you hoped it would be and I hope you cherish the next three years or however many you do after this. If you think the season went by fast, that’s because it did and it won’t get better! The vets know this, but rookies sometimes need reminding: this section is your family, and these people will be there for you no matter what - all you have to do is ask. Enjoy however many seasons you have left - it’ll be over sooner than you think.
To the sophomores: I feel like you guys were the babies just yesterday, but now you’re little young adults and two of you are on staff! I’m so proud of all of you for sticking with it and giving this section your all every day. Your college careers are almost half over and you’ll be graduating before you know it. Look at where you started and how much you’ve grown, and then keep growing.
To the juniors: You know how this goes - you’re next! This one is going to be a little longer because I have three pieces of advice to give you. 1) I’m going to tell you exactly what I told the rest of the section and what the seniors told Ari and I last year and what you’ll be telling all the juniors next year - don’t take any of this for granted. Enjoy every second. Next year you’ll be just like us sobbing on the front side line at the end of In My Life at your last game and then tearing up writing your goodbyes sitting in your last database systems class of the semester when you should be paying attention to the lecture. Too specific? Anyway! It goes by FAST and every game is just a little bit harder once you start realizing all the lasts. 2) Change doesn’t have to be bad (and you know we’ve had plenty of change this semester), but, in the midst of all this change, don’t forget that tradition is just as important. Our traditions and history plus all of our new memories and new traditions make us who we are as a section, and the upperclassmen are the ones who make sure the old doesn’t get buried by the new. 3) Last, but possibly the most important, set an example for the underclassmen. Remember how you felt about the seniors when you were a rookie and what you wanted the section to be for you, and then go make that their reality. Be Santa Claus.
To Allie: I will always remember when I met you on the very first day of your first “band camp” at IR (we both know why that’s in quotations) and my last. That year was such a huge year of change for the IRMB and we experienced all of the firsts and lasts of that group together. And now here we are, experiencing all the change and firsts and lasts of a completely different band. I will never not be upset that we wore three of the same uniforms and played two of the same shows and will never have more than those two seasons on the same field. I was so proud the first time I saw you up on our high school’s rickety, old podium in the same drum major uniform that I wore, and I can’t wait to see you conducting on a bigger and better podium in UD’s mess of a stadium. I believe in you and am rooting for you SO hard. You are so dedicated and willing to put your all into every single thing that you do, and I cannot wait to see what you accomplish in the UDMB!
To Alyssa: I read the article you wrote for Halftime Magazine the morning it came out. I cried. A lot. You are such an amazing person and an even greater role model to so many people. So much has changed from Freshman year to now, but I have cherished every second I have spent with you. We need another wine & za night and another Hoez sushi date. I love you SO much, Lyss.
To my sisters: I know we still have one more amazing, musical semester together before Senior Commitment has me bawling, but I needed to include you anyway. The UDMB is what brought me to SAI and you all are what kept me there. This sisterhood holds such a special place in my heart and is so near and so dear to me (hehe, get it?) and I would not have made it through four years at this university without you. I am so lucky to have this amazing network of women in my life. Vita brevis, ars longa - life is short, but art is long. Your impact is not unnoticed and will stay with me always. Thank you.