Performing arts and academic teams scored well in competitions in Dayton, Huntington Beach and Riverside this spring.
Indoor Drumline competed in the annual Winter Guard International World Championships in Dayton, Ohio from April 8-14, placing 40th out of 50 schools.
After the first two competitions of the season, Indoor Drumline moved up from Class A to Open Class, the second highest division, one month before the finals.
Indoor Drumline titled their show “Finding Imagination” and combined props from previous themes, including the hotel from “The Grand Hotel,” a toy shop from “The Wonder Emporium” and a restaurant from “Chef.”
“This show is a goodbye to our seniors,” Junior Emily Morales said. “They experienced all the firsts Temple City made in the drumline community, and as we send them off to college, we want them to continue to be imaginative and creative.”
They placed fourth in the Southern California Percussion Alliance Championship Preliminaries on March 30 and 10th in the SCPA Championship Finals on April 6.
In addition, Winter Guard recently placed third in their Scholastic AAA division in the Winter Guard Association of Southern California Championships Semifinals at Edison High School on Sat., April 13.
This year’s theme “Am I Enough?” followed a girl’s journey of finding inner strength and confidence to break free from societal pressures. The choreography drew from the team’s own experiences with academic and parental stress, as well as living up to the expectations of others.
“The theme may not be as relevant to the judges, but it’s really important to us,” Junior Sydney Taylor said. “These things stress us out, but they’re something everyone relates to. Performing for an audience who understands these feelings allows us to convey a really strong message.”
Winter Guard began preparing in January for the spring season, meeting every Monday and Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. and every other Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. In the competitions prior to semifinals, the team adjusted the choreography numerous times to perfect their routine.
Odyssey of the Mind received several awards this year as well. All four TCHS teams passed regionals, and two of the four qualified for the state level competition at the University of California, Riverside on March 23.
The two teams placed first and second and will fly to Michigan State University on May 20 to compete at the Worlds level. This is the first time that any TCHS Odyssey of the Mind team will have the opportunity to participate in the Worlds level competition.
In the weeks leading up to competition days, team members met every day for two to five hours to plan, build props and rehearse for events designed to showcase creativity and ingenuity in problem solving.
“Our improvement is from the commitment from the members,” Senior Felix Liu said. “As someone who has put in more than a 100 hours into Odyssey of the Mind, I am proud that our teams have made it as far as we did and achieved something that we are all proud of.”
TCHS School Newspaper