Page 85 - 2019 UDMB Senior Will

my title. I have chosen Nathan Robino as the heir to my throne. He pretty much knows how to do the whole thing anyway. May the loads prosper beneath his gaze.
I wasn’t planning on doing any shout-outs because I straight up don’t have anything in particular to say about most of you guys, and I’m already 19 hours past the deadline. Except that Mia specifically requested a shout-out, so shout-out to Mia for requesting a shout-out. Rad.
Oh, also thanks to Minori, Natalie, Quinn, and Ilene for braiding my hair during games, so I could look cute and fit in.
That’s all.
Catch you on the flipside, Kevin
Caitlin O’Connor ~~
Ah, the time has come. I have reached the end of my days in the UDMB. Four years have gone by too fast, and I am not ready for this moment. Mad World, One, Peace of Mind, and lastly, To Boldly Go. Every year has brought me friendships, happiness, and experiences I’ll never get anywhere else. Over the last four years, my depression and anxiety have been all over the place, and the place that I have been able to go to feel safe during those bad times has been band. And I can’t find the words to thank all of the people in band appropriately, but I will attempt to say everything I have to say as concisely as possible.
This all started for me my junior year of High School. My friends kept begging me to do band with them, and not knowing any woodwind or brass instruments, and not having nearly enough skill on the drums, lead me to play in the pit on my guitar. But that was not enough for me. I wanted the whole experience. So in November of my junior year a good friend of mine taught me how to play the alto saxophone in 2 weeks, and over the course of the next 8 months, I got pretty good at it. I played in concert band, but starting my Senior year of High School, I chose to march the Alto Sax. Toward the midway point of my last year, my friends kept telling me I should join University of Delaware’s Marching Band if I got in. I had worked concessions at the games before, so I knew just how good they were. My fear was that I was not good enough, and that I wouldn’t get in. I was inexperienced, and while I could play basic scales and had the skill to play most things, my inability to read rhythms and my inability to sight read made me very nervous that I would fail. But I knew I had to try. So I auditioned, I had to do it by video because I was away on the weekend of the freshman days, and when I got in I posted it all over the internet because I, Caitlin O’Connor, was going to get to be in one of the best and most well known bands in the area. My freshman year, I did my rookie camp, and I felt at home immediately. I felt accepted by these people, and my inexperience marching didn’t seem to be an issue at all. But, nothing would compare to the amazement I felt when we sat down in Puglisi the first full night of camp and I heard that entire band, Drumline, Pit, and all, playing Mad World and Live Or Let Die. The whole band came in on that first note and I stopped playing. I immediately was blown away but the power of the sound and the pure volume that came from all of these people. As I continued that year, and the season came to a close, I could see just how