WS Chronicle

Above: Auxiliary performers of the Carver High School Marching Band prepare for the Winston-Salem State University Homecoming Parade on Saturday. (Photo by Felecia Piggott-Long)

By Felecia Piggott-Long
For The Chronicle

The Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) Marching Band stopped traffic on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive as the shining white tubas and the high stepping-drum line led the band and other auxiliary performing groups up the hill to rehearse.

It was another long night on Wednesday, Oct. 21 in preparation for the Rams’ Homecoming Parade.

The parade will be On Saturday, Oct. 31 at 10 a.m. in downtown Winston-Salem. Oct. 24 – Oct. 31.

Saturday, Oct. 24 was a day of service in the community. On Sunday night, Oct. 25, after the gospel play “A Woman’s Gotta Do What a Woman’s Gotta Do,” the WSSU Rams observed the “Lighting of the Sign” at the Donald Julian Reaves Center and a half hour of explosive fireworks announcing their Homecoming excitement. The Rams followed this observance with spirit shouts of “It’s Homecoming, y’all!”

WSSU students are not the only ones who are preparing for the Parade. 2015.

The Louise Wilson Twirlers and the auxiliary performers of the Carver High School Marching Band – Sweet Stingers, Majorettes, and Flag Divas – kept up their momentum in preparation for their performance in the WSSU Homecoming Parade. The groups practiced together in the Rudolph Boone Band Room with their coach, Jamila Stover, and Mary Glenn, a Carver High School Booster Club volunteer.

They have practiced during the Band Camp in the summer at Carver. Now that school is in session, they practice from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and perform on Fridays at the games. As the parade gets closer, Stover has added some extra hours of rehearsal.

“Homecoming is exciting! I have been looking forward to WSSU’s Homecoming since last years’ parade,” said Glenn. “Both of my daughters Koloney and Kennedy are participating, one as a majorette and one as a twirler. They are excited, and so am I.”

“The Carver Band, Sweet Stingers, Flag Divas and Majorettes practice year-round. They never stop. They perform for birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, and parades,” said Stover. “The band did not practice today, but the auxiliaries did.”

“The WSSU parade is an important performance,” Stover said. “Our band director, Mr. Juan Eckard, is an alumnus of WSSU. We have to represent. We have to show up and show out.”