At Texas State’s last football game of the season, marching band alumni had the opportunity to perform alongside the Bobcat Marching Band for another night on the Jim Wacker Field at Bobcat Stadium.
In the past four years, the Bobcat Marching Band has invited alumni to participate in a different kind of school reunion. Any and every Texas State alumni who participated in the BMB during their time at the university is able to take part of the Bobcat Alumni Marching Band.
At one home football game out of the season, the BAMB joins the current 350 BMB members in the stands and on the field. The event has seen a lot of positive growth except for this year, due to unfavorable weather and timing. Only 47 alumni participated in comparison to the average of a little over one hundred members in previous years. Despite the small number of participants, the event was still successful.
Traveling can also become an obstacle and cause some alumni to not be able to attend. This wasn’t the case for alumnus Jordan Stern, who graduated in 2005 and again in 2010. Stern is the marching percussion coordinator so he’s been at every home game this season. “It’s kinda nice just to be on the other side again and go ahead and drum.”
Emily Grobe, a 2015 graduate, was in the BMB for three years and has been playing the clarinet for ten years. This is her second year participating in the marching band as an alumna. “The three years that I was here basically meant the world to me. It was where I made all my friends and my memories.” Being a recent graduate, Grobe has friends who are currently in the BMB as well as friends who are participating in the Alumni band with her.
Some alumni have been out of school longer, but they still have friendships that seemingly withstand the passing of time. Jessie Smith, a 2013 graduate, has participated in the Alumni band previously and traveled about four hours to attend this year. For Smith, the best part of BAMB is “just catching up with all my old friends.”
Despite the passing of time and the distance traveled away from Texas State, the Bobcat Alumni Band proves that some memories will always be cherished.
Grobe says, “It’s really just a great time to come back and see people you haven’t seen since you graduated. It’s like nothing ever stopped.”
