Supporting Student Identity and Collaboration Through Color Guard

During football seasons, student pride and attendance are at their height. For many, their enjoyment can be derived from what occurs at half time: their high school band and color guard performance. Students get to enjoy the music and artistic liberties of their peers, yet misconceptions toward color guard participation still persist. While these aspects overtly come together, color guard is an often-overlooked component of band programs nationwide.

From an outside view, however, participants in color guard remain confined under labels defining them as another branch of “band kids.” Despite this, through the integration of color guard programs within a scholarly realm, schools can build belonging, communication and trust, further providing students opportunities to be emotional storytellers and amplify the impact of traditional band programs and color guard teams.

Color guard is an extracurricular built upon expression, skill and working together. It works as a component of band during field and marching performances while also creating opportunities in other seasons which are dedicated toward portraying a show through flag, rifle and saber. Students who participate in these programs are part of something big, expressing themselves, and learning more about who they are.

Building Belonging and Trust
When students experience the transitional period which high school holds, a major aspect helps drive what path in life they might take and the belonging they feel. Adolescence can be highly confusing for the individual experiencing it as students may face competing priorities within themselves, trying to figure out what ways they belong, and how they are supposed to fit.

Participation in performance-based extracurricular activities such as color guard is a way in which students have been able to help find “their place.” Many schools highly encourage their youth to join programs and clubs to be more connected to their peers and experience positive outcomes. Within color guard, participants tend to develop valuable traits including discipline, teamwork, time management and artistic ability.

Through supporting the involvement of color guard within a school environment, school leaders can create spaces where students work together, build collaboration skills, and feel more connected to school and community identity. Participation in the program is able to further foster growth in social settings, helping students build confidence around their peers as a whole.

Color guard is a performance activity. The pressure is high and mistakes will be made. As the program is physically demanding and requires heavy equipment, students can develop stronger trust in those around them, build resiliency and skill in learning how to deal with challenges. Participants test their own capabilities and ultimately build individual and team proficiency.

Cultivating the Emotional Storyteller
Within the environment of personal and peer development, color guard is further able to cultivate students’ development to become emotional storytellers. As participants take the field, students can communicate identity and emotion. In these performances, individuals take direction on ways to approach the portrayal of emotion through facial expressions, helping develop confidence in oneself, be more aware of their own self-expression, and develop an ability to express how they might feel in other social situations. Such practice encourages participants to think critically on how their emotions are communicated and interpreted by others.

While the aspects of emotions portrayed by the individual rely on their ability to project them, coaches can build confidence in participants. For example, coaches can identify physical locations participants need to memorize so they can individually be successful and part of a cohesive team. Confidence is built in students through the beliefs others put in them and the trust involved in the learning process. By bringing more of a supportive mindset into color guard environments that details exact expectations, school leaders and staff can help their students feel more confident, represented and capable of portraying their artistic choices, beliefs, and talents.

Complementing Traditional Band Programs
When working in collaboration with band programs during fall seasons, color guard can enhance performance through visual storytelling, emotional depth, and interpretive meaning behind the music. Each performance can feel more “alive” with the audience due to the incorporation of movement and equipment, allowing for a more engaging experience for students and community.

Band directors and guard coaches can work together to format performances and shows, determining the ways students of both programs work together and create visual designs. For example, guard coaches can write dance, flag work, and weapon work to match specific musical points and cues, determining the speed of what is being performed to specifically target what the program aims to convey. In supportive settings, student participants may be empowered to share their voice in the success of collaboration as they can serve as additional set of eyes; teammates are often mentors for others as well as share what they feel would be successful. This allows students to utilize various skills they learn alongside their peers to keep their audiences engaged, helping to better represent the visual arts programs at high schools.

Final Thoughts
When color guard is allowed to reach its potential, it bridges gaps within programs and complements an entire school. Participants can further strengthen school communities through fostering inclusivity, school spirit, and a shared sense of identity. Athletic and band programs that work alongside artistic performances encourage student engagement. When school leaders place more emphasis on the extracurricular programs that complement existing programs, they create environments of collaboration and support that make stronger communities of learning.

Bobbi Williams is a student enrolled at Freedom High School in Oakley, California, and an active participant and leader in programs such as Color Guard, Theater and the National Honor Society. She is an honor roll student in the process of completing the AP Capstone program.