May 7, 2026 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Get to know Senior SJO Marching Band member Bryce Collins

The community surrounding Marching Band is filled with some of the most talented, passionate, and downright amazing people I’ve ever met. We are all so dedicated to this art and put our hearts and souls into putting forward the best performance we can, while still maintaining a bond so tight it makes us feel like family.


My favorite moment of this experience was Junior year when we put our medieval-monarch themed show Captiv on the field, and specifically at the Metamora Band Invitational, we placed first in and achieved every caption award in our class, something that our school had never achieved before. Being part of our school’s history might be one of the coolest moments of my life and seeing the look on all of our first-year marcher’s faces that showed that this was something they never wanted to quit gave me so much happiness.


My favorite show is impossible to pick since they’ve all been absolutely fantastic, but if a particular answer is required, honestly this year has been my favorite. Sure, this hasn’t been our absolute best season, but the music is fantastic. Mr. Hess, our band director, picked a very brass-heavy show that utilizes our 7 person trumpet section very well and has been an absolute blast playing.


This year’s uniform doesn’t really compare to my freshman and junior year shows. Freshman year’s uniform was unique as we were dressed up like Beethoven and had these absolutely atrocious grey wigs that really encompassed the classical music era. But last years show where we had archer hoods and satchels reinforced our theme perfectly.


The biggest misconception is that we’re all weird. Sure there are a couple of outliers as with any other group, but for the most part, we’re all just having fun and not worrying about what people think about us. That’s really the best part of the band too. We’re all a little off in our own sense and we’re not afraid to express that so it makes us all super friendly with each other.

in Life, People
Banner
Related Posts

Hometown appeal: The Wheelhouse earns Business of the Year honors

April 16, 2019

April 16, 2019

When the Wheelhouse opened in 2017, it was unlike anything in St. Joseph. And still is. The farm-to-table restaurant owned...

Kids Say…

August 1, 2019

August 1, 2019

Students from PVO South tell us if they would like to be a farmer. This post is sponsored by Longview...

Remembering Dawn Van Buskirk: St. Joseph resident ‘admired and loved for who she truly was’

July 27, 2021

July 27, 2021

To those that knew her, Dawn Van Buskirk always had a smile on her face. “She was a happy person...

Doctor’s love of medicine started at early age

February 18, 2019

February 18, 2019

St. Joseph resident Dr. Jeanelle Murphy fell in love with medicine in the oncology wing at the Children’s Hospital of...

Kids Say….

March 8, 2019

March 8, 2019

Every week we will have five students from an area school answer a question for us. This week it’s five...

5 things you don’t know about me… Josiah Thaman

August 7, 2019

August 7, 2019

Josiah is in the running for the title of Little Prince! He is six years old. We asked him to...

Athletic complex to be dedicated tonight

April 16, 2021

April 16, 2021

 The St. Joseph-Ogden School District will honor Glenn Fisher tonight.The district voted in June 2020 to name the athletic complex...

10 things you don’t know about me… Alisyn Franzen

December 13, 2021

December 13, 2021

We asked St. Joseph Middle School Principal Alisyn Franzen to tell us 10 interesting things about herself. Here are her...

Senior Spotlight…. Brayden Grimsey

September 5, 2019

September 5, 2019

Every week we ask an SJO senior five questions. This week we spoke to Brayden Grimsey. This post is sponsored...

5 things you don’t know about me….Payslie Hogan

August 7, 2019

August 7, 2019

Payslie is in the running for the title of Little Princess! She is six years old. We asked hrt to...

Spartan Spotlight… Kendall Ayers

April 8, 2020

April 8, 2020

Kendall Ayers has plans to travel after graduating from high school. The St. Joseph-Ogden senior plans to take a vacation...

Senior Spotlight… Sam Wesley

April 17, 2020

April 17, 2020

What are your plans after high school?I will attend the University of Illinois. Who are three people you would like...

A field of art

October 17, 2019

October 17, 2019

Call it art in progress. The fans at St. Joseph-Ogden High School always take note of the painted field, endzones,...

Love of the game: Two St. Joseph residents umpire at state softball tournament

June 3, 2019

June 3, 2019

Slipping on wet grass actually helped Karl Black’s first experience working as an umpire at the high school softball state...

Senior Spotlight: Taylor Barnes

June 7, 2019

June 7, 2019

Every week we are going to do a Q and A with an SJO senior. This week we talked to...

Comments
Leave a Reply