Three former students from Valparaiso High School were accepted to play for the 2011 Notre Dame marching band. Ingrid Adams and Mary Kate Walsh, both graduates in 2011, play the trombone and piccolo respectively. Nick Reineke, a 2010 graduate, plays the trombone.
The band has approximately 380 members and is one of the largest collegiate bands in the country. All band members are volunteers and do not receive any special scholarships for their service. Since the students in the band represent all parts of the country and abroad, it is rare to have three students from the same high school in the band.
Marching band students are selected each year after the auditions in August. They practice every day for 2 hours to get ready for football weekends. The Marching Band’s game weekend starts Friday with the step-off from the Dome at 4:30, the Pep Rally and the midnight drummers’ circle. The Game Day experience continues on Saturday at “The “Concert on the Steps”, which begins 90 minutes before game time and the traditional step-off through campus to Notre Dame Stadium. By the time the weekend is over, they will have marched about seven miles.
In addition to playing at all the home games, the three will travel to Michigan, Purdue and to The Fed Ex Bowl in Washington D.C. to play a home game against Maryland. The band often performs at the major bowl game as well.
All three students played in the Valparaiso High School Band under the direction of Dan Pritchett and Miguel Rosario.
Congratulations to these three students!