This year COVID – 19 changed many things, and everyone had to adapt to a new environment. Sports, clubs, and regular classes all came with a little bit of change this year. Band being one of the many that had to produce a different environment because of the Coronavirus.

A smaller crowd, covering of instruments when they weren’t being used, and splitting up the bands from 2 to 3 were just some of the differences this year. With so many changes, there is no doubt this band season was more challenging, and brought more focus than ever.

Even though this band season was remained stressful, most students had no problem performing just as well as any other year. The band director Mr. Varn has pulled through this season despite all the changes he had to go work with.

“I could not be prouder of our students. They have all adapted and did what was necessary, to keep the music playing,” Varn said. I could not have been happier with our parents for their support and the North Canton City Schools’ Administration, starting with Mr. Wendorf, for the support to continue to play in person.”

It’s a great feeling to know you have people behind you rooting for you, no matter the circumstances. With this year being so unpredictable, support was most likely one of the best ways to get motivated.

Adapting to change is a great way to chase opportunities. Finding replacements to aid the process, could be better than the old way.

“Very few things, but we did find that using Sign Up Genius for uniform issuing was a great aid in speed and ease of issuing,” Varn said.

Despite the changes due to the Coronavirus, the band managed to find many ways to help their process, and what they found is more efficient than what was being used before. No one likes having to switch it up, but in this case it helped.

Even though a lot was limited this year, students still found ways to make the most out of each experience. Sabrina Wolf, a senior in the band, still managed to enjoy this season as much as possible with it being her last year of high school.

“Performing in front of a smaller crowd is very different, but I’m still very happy that I get to perform,” Wolf said “I know a lot of bands that couldn’t even get the chance to get together. So we are very grateful that we have the ability to do what some bands can’t, no matter the size of the crowd.”

That’s a great mindset with the way the year has been going for a lot of people. Sabrina Wolf found a way to look at it with an optimistic mindset. That’s how she threw the change, by making the best out of it.

“I was a mix of nervous and excited. It had been so long since I had seen my friends, and even longer since I had created music in a group. I was nervous about what changes we would have to make and how it would be different than the previous years,” Wolf said. “It was so worth all of the changes just to be back in band again with the people I love. I was so excited overall.”

In the end for her, she enjoyed it just as much and had gotten back to what she missed. Being happy with the way your last year of high school band went, is great, and it’s quite a plus, considering the way 2020 went. It’s great to see things being enjoyed normally even though the Coronavirus was a huge mess up for a lot of things.

This year, the band wa supposed to be off to Edinboro University, where they stay and have band camp throughout the summer, but this year sadly that was cancelled.

“The biggest change in band due to COVID was not being able to go to band camp at Edinboro University like we do every summer,” Wolf said. “This was really heartbreaking to me and a lot of the senior class band students because there are so many traditions for seniors that happen at band camp.”

This was one of the changes that had a negative impact, but they got through it and still had band camp. Hoovers band adapted and did what they needed to do for the season to turn out great. It shows a great attitude and everything rides on that because without perseverance through struggle there’s no spirit to keep everyone and everything moving. In the end, it was a great band season.