After persevering through pandemic, Fossil Ridge marching band retakes 5A state crown

Two years after COVID-19 school closures and social distancing requirements threw Fossil Ridge High School's marching band for a loop, it has officially risen from the pandemic's ashes to nab another state title.

The high school's 118-person band took the Colorado 5A marching band crown at the state championship competition in Colorado Springs on Oct. 29. It marks the band's fifth state championship since 2012 and reads as a bit of a comeback story, according to Aaron Herman, Fossil Ridge High School's director of bands.

Herman took over the high school's bands program in fall 2020, when hybrid learning and social distancing changed the face of Poudre School District's band offerings.

That year, Fossil Ridge High School's bands and ensembles couldn't meet in person, even outdoors, according to Herman.

"We were trying to hold onto what we could at that point," Herman said, adding that there were inherent challenges with teaching kids how to hold instruments and march in a formation through a computer screen.

Once able to meet in person again, there were still significant restrictions on band members.

"Due to the guidelines that we had to follow, there was a point where we were told we had to be 25 feet apart," Herman said, noting that under normal circumstances, students are often within a foot of each other and sometimes even shoulder to shoulder during marching band drills.

By 2021, the once-powerhouse marching band saw its membership dwindle from 160 students in 2019 to 96.

In spring 2021, however, marching band members were able to get back into their old groove — meeting in person five days a week, Herman said.

"Even though we still had to have masks and bell covers on the instruments, just the fact that we were able to be in person and the students were able to interact face to face, that was the game changer," Herman recalled. "We had kids who were ready to give up and quit music and band because the experience had been so shattered with virtual learning."

"But because of that nine-week period we were able to be in person the spring of 2021, I had kids who did a total 180," he added.

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Thanks to band practice normalizing and increased student buy-in, Herman said Fossil Ridge High School was able to place second in that fall's 5A state marching band championship. The band's continued work culminated this year in its latest state title win, where it delivered a winning finals performance titled "9 to 5."

The win was "awe inspiring," Herman said. "And I think it meant a lot to the kids, especially to our older students and our seniors who have borne the brunt of the effects of the past couple years. They went from having an amazing freshman year where they had a normal season to school (being) shut down to the band being much smaller and needing to be rebuilt."

"We committed after last year's season to essentially dig in and have a really strong plan and build things from the bottom up, and that seemed to work really well," he added.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fossil Ridge marching band retakes 5A state crown after 'rebuild' year