As the Class of 2013 prepares to graduate and move on to a new life, so do the seniors in the Blue Valley Southwest Band. The spring concert of Tues., May 7 not only represented a banquet in celebration of the band’s yearly events, but also manifested the symbolic transition between graduates and rising freshmen.

The concert, which began at 7 p.m., saw the recognition of the band program’s 10 seniors by their reception of alloy compasses. Each one represents the guidance that band has given them, and it serves as a reminder that they may always call the band their home.

Additionally, rising freshmen, primarily from Aubry Bend Middle School, came on May 8 to learn the basics of marching, to socialize with the current member of the Emerald Regiment and to familiarize themselves with the high school band program.

This “changing of the guard” is not the only change occurring within the marching band, however. The staff members Jason Jennings, drumline instructor, Sarah Jennings, drum major instructor, Anna Torres, drill team instructor, William Torres, drill writer and marching instructor and Emily Riley, assistant instructor, will all be leaving the band either fully or partially due to changing work situations.

The addition of these new members will certainly push the band’s enrollment for 2013 over 100, heightening the Emerald Regiment to a new division of competition, and thus making the presence 0f the staff members and seniors that will be lost, felt.