As the 2024-2025 school year comes to a close, we bid farewell to our 2024 drum majors and prepare to welcome the next generation of student leaders. 

For Panther Marching Band students, the drum majors are a pretty huge deal. According to the Panther Marching Band Handbook, the drum majors control many different aspects of the band, including conducting band performances, overseeing the entire student leadership operation, and meeting with the director to discuss leadership and other aspects of the band’s functions. For juniors Josie Wieland, Casper Stockman, and Eli Surkis, these big responsibilities are just the beginning as they rise to become the 2025 drum majors. 

Wieland has been a member of the marching band since her freshman year. She has performed in the alto saxophone section of the band and was a section leader her junior year as well as a squad leader her sophomore year. She also had the opportunity to carry the Jack Hontz 12 flag when leading the cadence this past season, which was a high honor that was bestowed to her for her continuous dedication to the band. 

“I have always loved band. Every season is the number one thing I look forward to at the beginning of the school year,” Wieland said. “I did just really want to do something big with my love for band, and express it in a special way.” 

For Wieland, a great benefit of being a drum major may not be what you’d expect. 

“I just can’t wait to get to know a bunch of people from different sections, and be able to work with people that I don’t know super well right now, to form those connections,” Wieland said. “I think we’re all going to work really well together, and we’re going to make it such a good season.” 

Stockman has also been in the band since his freshman year, and contrary to his usual bassoon, he has performed in the tenor saxophone section. He was a section leader his junior year and was a field major his sophomore year. 

“The drum major position always interested me because they lead the band,” Stockman said. “Since the beginning, I just wanted to know what it felt like to be drum major.” 

Stockman anticipates loving the coming season just as much as he has in the past.

“Marching band always has fun experiences that are specific to moments in time,” Stockman said. “There’s just always little moments in band that really make it worthwhile.”

Surkis has been through a very similar experience as Stockman: a section leader his junior year and a field major his sophomore year. He has performed in the baritone section and was a section leader for both the baritones and the tubas. 

“I’ve always enjoyed band, and I thought being part of something bigger than myself was always fun,” Surkis said. “I enjoyed leading my section last year, and I want to expand that.” 

Though Surkis is just as excited about the drum major position as Stockman and Wieland, there are other feelings that he has been grappling with regarding this responsibility. 

“I’m a little bit nervous, especially because I feel more confident in my leadership ability than I do in my ability to actually conduct,” Surkis said. “But I think I’m going to get enough practice over the summer and before the season starts that I should be good with [conducting].” 

For every student applying for band leadership, there is a written application with several short answer questions, a minute-long choreography teaching video, and an in-person interview with band director Mr. Nicholas Pignataro. For drum majors, on top of an interview with Pignataro and the former year’s executive council, they also have to conduct in front of the Symphonic Band.  

“When I was on the road trip with my mom in the Pacific Northwest, I would conduct to the songs that we were listening to in the car,” Wieland said. “It just helped me really get that conducting pattern ingrained into my mind. But being up in front of the symphonic band, I was just trying to picture how I would possibly be on a Friday night, seeing the band in front of me.”

Pignataro is very excited to work with his new crew of drum majors. 

“They’re incredibly hard workers and they’re kind,” Pignataro said. “They are the epitome of kindness, and all of the drum majors the past years, their number one quality, in my mind, is kindness.”

DISCLAIMER: Reporter is a Panther Marching Band member.