The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to get caught up in the spin cycle and let it get us down. Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week we feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
This week’s Something Good is a spirit of cooperation between two schools in northern Michigan.
Glen Lake High School has a football team but no band. Forest Area High School has a marching band but no football team after their football season was cancelled recently due to lack of players and safety issues.
So, Glen Lake Athletic Director Mark Mattson invited the Forest Area Marching Band to come play under the Friday night lights for the game on September 27. Brandon Deike, band director for Forest Area, told WPBN, “It was just crazy out of the blue and it was just one of those let’s put it together let’s make it happen.”
The band, with hand-me-down instruments, traveled an hour and a half and played in the rain but they were ecstatic to be able to do so. They played the National Anthem at the start of the game, then entertained the crowd when they played for half time.
Forest Area senior and band member, Ashley Peckat, said of the opportunity, “I absolutely flipped. I was so happy. Since it’s my last year after playing for six years, it’s the most important thing to me to be able to be out here and show people what we can do.”
Ben Kroll, a football player for Glen Lake told NPR, “It was really awesome. We’ve never had that much enthusiasm, especially at a football game before. It was amazing.” Ben also said that he hopes the partnership between the two schools continues, noting that at one point during the game, he heard the fans chanting “We love band!” Mr. Mattson agrees with Ben about the partnership continuing and told WPBN that the band is welcome back anytime.
Glen Lake won the game against another Upper Peninsula team, Gladstone, 31-7. Ben laughed as he attributed the 31 points put on the board by the football team to their musical guests.
On an evening where schools across the nation reveled in rivalries and took for granted longstanding traditions, two schools combined forces to give their students a night to remember.
Now it’s your turn… Tell me Something Good!
