On November 1, 2025, New Jersey State Championships took place at South Brunswick High School (SBHS). Bands from all over the state pulled into the parking lot of SBHS and performed during their designated times. The South Brunswick Viking Marching Band (SBVMB) performed later at 9:00 PM, so they had the whole day to prepare.
Since competitions took place at their school, rehearsal was at the Crossroads South Middle School football stadium. One by one, people showed up, dressed up in costumes to celebrate Halloween. As the sound system members pushed speakers from the trucks to the stadium and plugged in wires, the rest of the band was led through stretching by Ms. Amanda Elkadi, which was later followed by a lap around the track.
After the lap, their visual director Mr. Justin Bogen led them through Basics, an activity where the band stands in rows and nitpicks marching techniques and their posture while marching across the field. Halfway through Basics, the lead drum major Aishi Chell changed into an inflatable unicorn costume, sending giggles throughout the band.
For the next thirty minutes, the band worked on choreography. There were a few significant spots where their choreography was rough since it was relatively new, so they worked on it a number of times to make it performance-worthy.
Right after, the wind instruments, called woodwinds and brass, made arcs around Band Director Mr. Joshua Oldham, and started warming up and tuning their instruments. Right after, they played a few of their weak spots in their show to work on their musicality.
Then, they proceeded to clean their drills. During rehearsals, the directors noticed that sometimes the marchers weren’t reaching their spots accurately which needed to be fixed to get the formation they wanted. Just being a few steps off can easily deduct points. This was probably the most challenging part of their rehearsal because they had been running the same sets over and over and even though the heat wasn’t a problem, water breaks were sacred. But for the sake of the rehearsal, SBVMB pushed through.
For dinner, the parent volunteers served pasta and salad. Right after eating, everyone went to their makeshift changing rooms, either the band room, choir room, or the lecture halls, to change into their uniforms.
Everyone met in the orchestra room by 6:30 PM for uniform checks, where the parent volunteers checked that everyone had a white tank top underneath their uniform and long black socks. Then, they walked out to the front to do their show warm-up.
As part of their warm-up, the band split up. The woodwinds went to Mr. Oldham, the brass went to Band Director Mr. Brungard, the Color Guard with Ms. Jaime Lynch, and the percussion with Mr. Jacob Ford. They worked on their own sectional warm-ups. Then, excluding the Color Guard, everyone came together, worked on their music, and spent two minutes for section cheers, where each section came together to rehearse their individual cheers.
Afterward, the band marched in groups of four, the h pressure building as they stepped closer and closer to the field. Because this wasn’t just a regular competition. This was State Championships. One of the most important competitions of the season. And since they were still salty about getting second place last year, they knew that they had to get first this year. They worked way too hard for them to not get first.
The adjudicator announced the SBVMB and everyone marched onto the field. The audio crew set up the speakers and joined the rest of the band as they marched to their spots. Then, the synthesizer player began playing a few notes and the rest of the band went to their starting positions on the ground.
Then, their show began.
The band laid down, their positions representing tree roots connecting to a tree prop in the center, a nod to the show’s title: “The Root of it All.” They slowly arose as a flute solo began, evolving into a group of soloists as the rest of the band marched in the background. Later, the band came in performing their big hit, and then broke into smaller ensembles and came back together again, symbolizing growth. Part two was a slower piece, focusing on a small group of soloists rather than a whole band, showing the connection between individuals with differences since the soloists were all playing different instruments. The third movement was slower. A ballad. Beginning as a compressed group, they then break into smaller chunks. The movement wasn’t as intense as the first two, but it was strong enough to symbolize joy with the burst of different colors from the Color Guard flags. Then came the closer which was faster than the last two. Beginning with a soloist and slowly evolving to encompass the whole band, this movement mirrored the first one in terms of growth and connection. Since it conveyed the message of their show, connection, it was the most significant out of the four.
The band held out a long note to end their performance. Then, they marched off the field. The prop crew pushed the props off the stadium and pushed them under the bleachers while the audio crew pushed the speakers back to the orchestra room. Luckily, they got out of the stadium just in time for Hillsborough’s performance.
By the time the audio crew came back from the orchestra room to the stadium, Hillsborough’s performance was over. Whispers made their way through the band as they were wondering if they’d win. Awards started almost half an hour later.
“And last but not least, Group V Open,” the adjudicator announced.
Immediately, silence rippled through the stadium. The air was tense.
“In third place, with a score of 89.1, again 89.1… New Providence High School.”
The stadium filled with cheers from the high school, but the tension creeped in. SBVMB didn’t know if they were going to revisit the same fate as last year.
“In second place, with a score of 91.7, that is again 91.7, winning the caption of Best Music, Best Visual, Best Overall Effect…”
Silence. The adjudicator did that on purpose. The suspense was weighing heavy on both the Hillsborough and South Brunswick Marching Band.
“Hillsborough High School!”
SBVMB held their breaths. They were already about to cheer but their band directors told them to be quiet.
“And finally, in first place,” the adjudicator began, “with a score of 92.3, again 92.3, also winning the caption of Best Music, Best Visual, Best Overall Effect, the New Jersey Group V Open 2025 State Championships is… South Brunswick High School!”
Before the adjudicator finished her sentence, the stadium filled with the loudest cheers of the night. After last year’s defeat, SBVMB won State Championships. The banner was finally given to them after so long.
