In spite of the Bulldog’s victory against Arkansas Saturday, I left Davis Wade Stadium with a sad, aching feeling in my chest. After four years of hard work and more fun than I could have ever imagined, I had finished my days of being on Scott Field during pregame and halftime with the Famous Maroon Band.
One of our directors pointed out to us seniors we never think this day will come when we’re freshmen, but then it does. The last home game as a member of the Famous Maroon Band sneaked up on me as fast as the past four years of college have flown by.
Ever since I was in the seventh grade, music always controlled my social life on weekends in the fall. I joined my high school marching band when I was going on 13, so for the past decade, I have never attended a football game for my school without being in a polyester-wool blend band uniform surrounded by my closest friends.
Being a member of the marching band has shaped me into who I am today. There are so many lessons other than music that can be learned through marching band, and I would like to share them with you now.
First of all, being in marching band taught me discipline. I have seen and experienced this concept firsthand: if you want to become better at doing something, you have to practice. You have to practice when you think you’re good enough not to. Marching band showed me if I work hard at something, I will see the rewards. My senior year of high school, our marching band was third in the state of Tennessee Division I Championships. Four years earlier, we never had a chance of making finals, much less coming .55 points away from taking home a state title. We succeeded because we wanted to be good. And we were good – we were very good – because we worked hard.
Being in marching band taught me how to be a leader and how to be a follower. In high school, I was the drum major for two years. During that time, I led my peers and had to set the example for how I wanted the rest of our band to act and focus during rehearsals. I learned how to lead by serving. I also developed thick skin. I learned how to not get my feelings hurt when I was criticized, but instead learn how to make myself better.
 I firmly believe because of my leadership in high school marching band, I have been able to lead in other areas of my life, such as being a camp director this past summer.
In college, I learned to follow. I learned you don’t always have to be the leader. In life, sometimes you are expected to simply do what others ask of you. As a member of the Famous Maroon Band, I was able to be a face in the crowd – a tiny dot in the “MSU” and “STATE” spell-outs during the pregame performances, but I was also a part of something much bigger than myself.
Band taught me how to be a sincere Bulldog fan as well. Singing the fight song after a major loss is hard. But win or lose, I will always be proud to be a Bulldog. The school spirit in this university is tangible. And because of the Famous Maroon Band, I can sing all the words to our alma mater by heart because I learned them during my first week of band camp.
Marching band gave back to me in ways many people never realize. I receive scholarship money each semester for being in the Famous Maroon Band. I would be in the band regardless of the funding, but that money has helped supply my college financial needs more than any other scholarship I receive.
My dad lost his job after his company filed for bankruptcy during my senior year of high school. I knew I wanted to attend Mississippi State, but my family had the obstacle of paying out-of-state tuition on top of regular college tuition, as well as tuition for my twin sister.
Because of the discipline I learned from marching band, I pushed myself in high school to get good grades and obtain as many scholarships as I could. My parents sacrificed so much for me to attend MSU. I often reference my parents in my opinion column, and I don’t thank them enough for everything they have done for me. They really are the smartest people I know.
My mother has consistently gone above and beyond to make me happy. I’ve never met anyone more True Maroon than my dad. Making them proud these past four years as a member of an SEC college marching band has been a joy. And from being laid off from his job of 24 years to having major surgery for what we all thought was kidney cancer, I can’t explain how good it felt to be on Scott Field and see my dad sitting five rows diagonally to the left of the F section on the west side of the stadium, ringing his cowbell and smiling. Through hard work and God’s provision, I will graduate college debt-free. I will never be able to thank the Famous Maroon Band enough for helping meet that need.
I would be wrong for not mentioning my growth as a musician because of marching band. I have developed a skill I can use for the rest of my life. I will always listen to music with appreciation and understanding. Music really does feed your soul.
I think the most important thing I can take away from a decade of marching band is the relationships I developed with my life-long friends. I met the greatest friends I’ll ever have in marching band. Most of the few people with whom I still have a lasting friendship from high school were band members alongside me. And, in spite of being involved in numerous other campus organizations, I can easily say my best friends are people I met in the Famous Maroon Band.
On my first day of band as a freshman, the directors of the Famous Maroon Band knew me by name. I wasn’t a number on a drill chart. I was Mary Chase Breedlove from Somerville, Tenn. I was truly invested in by three directors who knew each of us – all 350-something – and treated us with care and intentionality.
The directors of the Famous Maroon Band were a lot like my band director in high school was to me. They were teachers, mentors, critics and friends. I think it’s safe to assume you just don’t see that kind of relationship among college band members and directors every day.
I consider myself blessed to have such wonderful people who influenced my love of music   and helped me become the best version of myself.
This journey was not always happy-go-lucky. In sickness and in health, band was hard sometimes. (During the Music City bowl trip last year, I got the worst stomach virus I’ve ever had in my entire life. It took me nine years, but I did in fact throw up on a band bus during my career as a band kid.)
 My heart has been broken from the death of a fellow band member from high school, the loss of one of our close-knit “band parents” and from various hurtful circumstances my friends and I have endured. However, the bond of being in the band together held us up during these hard times and made the good times even sweeter.
So, after four seasons of football, three bowl game trips, countless boxed dinners on a charter bus, many rehearsals at 5:00 p.m. on weekdays and some of the best memories I’ll ever have, I will close a 10-year long chapter of my life in a few short weeks. Like any season of life, I know it must come to an end. I can never thank the directors, parents and friends enough for the past 10 years.