The 46th annual Cyclone Honor Band Festival, a yearly celebration of the arts at Iowa State University, was on Feb. 4-5. 12 West High students woke before dawn on the 4th and made their way to West High. From there, they traveled to Ames, Iowa (along with students from high schools all across the state) to attend the festival. It lasted two days; days filled with rehearsal, rehearsal and more rehearsal that finished off with a concert performed by the students. There were two honor bands that performed at the festival on Feb. 5: the Cardinal band and the Gold band. The Cardinal band was directed by Jarrod O’Donnell, the Director of Bands at Atlantic High School in Atlantic, Iowa. The Gold band was directed by Patrick Sheridan, a former member of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band and one of the most celebrated tuba soloists in his instrument’s history. He has also taught at numerous universities. 

Students from West High who were accepted into this Honor Band were:

Gary Chen ’22   

Kyle Chi ’23

Miles Davis ’22

Heidi Du ’23

Ava Garcia ’24

Sachiko Goto ’23

Claire Hahn ’24

Noah Hahn ’22

Damien Kim ’23

Audrey Parrish ’23

Bivan Shrestha ’22

Natalie Urmie ’23

Sophia Wang ’23

Tony Wang ’22

Nathan Wei ’22

Anne Wu ’22

The students were welcomed at Iowa State by the director of the music program, Michael Golemo, the ISU director of bands. They rehearsed in the Simon Estes Music Hall, traveled around the ISU campus to eat meals at different dining halls and performed the final concert at Stephens Auditorium on campus. Next year’s Cyclone Honor Band Festival will be held Feb. 2 and 3, 2023.