Paint Valley took home the trophy in 2019.
After a one-year absence, Pickaway-Ross staff members and students are looking forward to the 2021 Battle of the Bands, taking place Friday, Sept. 10, at the Crouse Chapel Road campus.
This marks the school’s 13th year of hosting the marching band competition. Nine of the career center’s 10 partner schools will be represented: Adena, Chillicothe, Circleville, Huntington, Logan Elm, Paint Valley, Southeastern, Unioto and Westfall.
In his first year as Pickaway-Ross superintendent, Jonathan Davis will welcome visitors and performers, with the first band scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m.
Each band will start near the back of the building and march around the building, with three performance stops. After the event, students and staff members will vote for their favorite performance and the winning school will be presented with a plaque and the traveling Pickaway-Ross Cup at a school event of their choice.
“Many of our students are active in sports at their home schools and this is an opportunity to bring a little of that fall fun to our campus,” said Erika Konowalow, the district’s Public Relations & Marketing coordinator.
Konowalow organizes the event each year and said she was thrilled that nine schools are participating.
“Last year was a challenge for everybody in education and having to cancel the 2020 event was disappointing. We look forward to all of the performances and seeing who will claim the Pickaway-Ross Cup.”
This year, Kingston National Bank stepped forward to provide bottled water for the band members.
The performances should conclude before 11 and after the lunch periods students will take part in the GRIT Bash, a team-building competition created by the High Schools That Work committee and initiated by Principal Josh Younge in 2019.
Students will go outside and compete as a lab, juniors vs. seniors, rotating through 11 stations. Not every student will participate in every station, said Verdie Williams, a math teacher and member of the High Schools That Work committee. On average, an activity may require a team of 2 to 6 students and others in the lab will cheer on their peers.