"What we play is life."

Life has a funny way of giving you rare gifts when you least expect them, doesn't it?

I applied for the Cougar Alumni Band Randal Spicer scholarship in January. I spent a long time writing and rewriting my essay, hoping that I could convey my love for marching band convince the committee that I deserved the $1500 the most. Well, I wrote my essay the same way I always do--not the way everyone else does.

This is my essay:



Ten minutes till pregame. I sigh and sneak a peek at the stands. Slowly, steadily, the few specks of gray are swelling into a sea of crimson. The marching band has been in the tunnel for twenty minutes already. I stand next to my fellow trombonists, double-checking that my collar is hooked and my slide is locked in place. Pregame is my least favorite part of the game. I usually kill the time beforehand by complaining to my bandmates about how long we have to wait in the tunnel, and actively dreading running out onto the field and then spending five minutes high-marching.

My membership in the CMB has taught me important lessons about life. I learned that the most difficult tasks in life are the ones that are most valuable. CMB is a huge time commitment, and none of us make it lightly. I know just how much time it takes to put together a really good marching band, from band camp in blazing heat to hours that could have been spent on homework. Marching band is very time-consuming, but it’s worth every minute of it. I learned that teamwork is vital to achieving goals; it may not be much fun to rehearse the same drill over and over again in freezing temperatures just to hear frustrated yells of “GUIDE!”, but after all, without the hard work of every single person in the band, the half-time show falls apart. Last but not least by any means, it was through the Cougar Marching Band that I learned the most important motto of all: Bones Rock. I think I am worthy of the Randall Spicer Marching Band Scholarship because I am a dedicated CMB member. I’ve been a member of the band for two years now, and loved every minute of it. This year I’m a stipend member of the volleyball and the women’s basketball pep bands. As much as I complain about the time and the cold and the running, I am always sad to see the season end.

Finally, finally, we hear the drum line start the cadence. And as with every other Cougar football game I’ve played at with the CMB, I admit to myself this one crucial fact: I don’t hate pregame at all. One, two, three, four… what in the tunnel seemed like the countdown to a hellish few minutes of running and high-marching is now a countdown to the most exhilarating few minutes of the entire marching band season. Seven, eight, nine… I check my slide one last time, grin, and yell the last few numbers along with the chant: “thirteen, fourteen, FIFTEEN, SIXTEEN, AHHHHHHHHHHH!” And as I dodge and sprint with my fellow bandmates, I hear the screams of thousands of Cougar fans. The stands are packed, crimson as far as the eye can see. I feel a fierce rush of pride as I realize, running to my spot and ready to march, that they are cheering for us.



I was happy with the final product. I felt like the transition from the scene at pregame to "give me money" and back was a little awkward, but really, how can you make that kind of transition feel natural? So I sent it off, and hoped that it would make an impression.

And it did!

They have not announced the results yet, and I honestly didn't think they would until after the next marching season. But I got this email today:



Ashley,

My name is Gerry Austin, and I’m on the scholarship committee for the Randal Spicer Scholarship that you applied for.

I just wrapped up reviewing all the essays, and sent off my rankings, but I just had to drop you a message saying, “Heck Yeah! BONES ROCK!”:

I was a fellow boner from the mid-late 90’s, and it was a real pleasure reading your essay. You brought me right back into the tunnel... ready for the dash, then the epic grueling march! WOO!

Anyway, there are several others on the committee as well, so my boner bias will probably be diluted, but I think there will be an announcement sometime in the not too distant future. This is the first time the CAB has done this, so I don’t really know how it will work. We started the scholarship a couple years after I graduated, and it finally got endowed, so this has been a lot of fun. I really hope that some year we can give more scholarships, as this year, I wanted to give everybody one. You sound like a real asset to the section, and it’s great to hear great things are still going on.

A lot of us old bones like to visit the bonepage (what others just call the section website) to see what ya’ll are up to. But it doesn’t look like it’s been updated in a few years. We had a similar problem back in 2000, after myself and Dave Kirkbride graduated… Dave had made it too complicated for non-techie wizards, and we fear the same thing might have happened when Andy left a few years back... he was after all, the grand techie wizard of the bonepage… It’d be great if you guys could make a push next fall to setup a new one…

As far as us after college, I married a clarinetist, and we now have two kids a son of 2 yrs and daughter of 5 months. Dave married another boner, and they have a son who’s a few months older than my son, so we have a great time whenever we get together.

Sometimes I still wonder what my life would have been like without band… even through we rarely, if ever play… it just seems like everywhere I go, I run into band people.

Lots of love to the boners,
Gerry




Wow. Wow! Wow.

How amazing!

I love the CMB. I love being a boner. I love my section, and I love Don. I love WSU. I love my life.