By Mason Peters

            The PVHS Ocean of Sound band transitioned into a needed break after experiencing a wild year playing horns and woodwinds. With a new band director this year and Covid-19 obstacles, students managed to make the best of it ending the year off right. November 6, 2020, the Ocean of Sound swept the competition in their classification and won class 3A at the final competition of the season. New band director Daniel Lezcano had some kind words about his band students. “The students have worked extremely hard and have persevered to make the best of this unique year. If you see a band student, please join me in congratulating them on a job well done.”

            Senior, Sydney Stubbs, Co-band Captain, elaborated on her thoughts about how this year played out. Stubbs exclaimed the experience in band has brought the program together and made students stronger emotionally. “This program has had a really tough year adapting to the needs of Covid and the change of a director but have used it as an opportunity to grow as a whole,” Stubbs remarked. She also claimed that she has no regrets when it comes to how the year has played out, because band has always been the best part of her day.

“This program has had a really tough year adapting to the needs of COVID and the change of a director but have used it as an opportunity to grow as a whole.”

            Senior, Evan Cushman expressed his views on the difficulty of this year and how the band managed to perform with Covid guidelines. “We used specialized PPE for playing instruments such as woodwind bags and masks that had an opening on them for a mouthpiece,” explained Cushman. Cushman spoke sincerely about the band stating that the transition between directors was rough but ended up being a positive turn of events. “Our new director Mr. Lezcano was good at keeping the way the band is run, similar to how it was run last year, but added minor changes that we ran with pretty well,” Cushman stated. Given the present situations, the PVHS Ocean of Sound acts as a solid example of how to address the unprecedented challenges Covid has brought. Exhibiting a positive attitude and making the best of the situation is all we can do.