Bentonville Marching Invitational
Two Northwest Arkansas high schools earned spots in the finals of the inaugural Bentonville Marching Invitational held Oct. 6 at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville.
Today's top high school marching bands perform elaborate, theatrical music performances -- complete with solos, choreography and props on the field. Each band is allotted 15 minutes to set up, perform and clear the field for the next band. A panel of experts in music, marching and visual effects judged and provided feedback to the bands.
Bentonville West High School, performing its 2018 competition show "Not to Scale," finished second in Class AA during the preliminary round to advance to finals. Shiloh Christian finished preliminaries in second place for Class A. Its show, "Color Studies," was recognized for Best Visual Presentation in its class.
The Bentonville Pride debuted its show "Modern Marie." As the host band, it performed in exhibition and was not scored against the competing bands.
Twelve marching bands from three states qualified to compete in finals. Bentonville West finished the night in fifth place. Shiloh finished 12th. Blue Springs (Mo.) South was the event's grand champion.
The Bentonville Marching Invitational was made possible in part by a $10,000 grant from Visit Bentonville. All proceeds from the competition benefit the Bentonville High School band and its students, helping to defray costs of travel to regional and national competitions.
Kansas State University
Hannah Markel of Rogers, a junior in journalism at Kansas State University, has been selected for the Chapman Rural Scholars Program and receives a $5,000 scholarship for research and academics.
For her project, Markel interned at 3W Magazine, where she was able to expand her skills and learn in an actual work setting. She is an active member of the Kansas State University Student Governing Association and is on the Student Alumni Board, a program of the K-State Alumni Association. Markel is the recipient of the K-State Foundation Plus Scholarship. A graduate of Rogers Heritage High School, she is the daughter of Greg and Michele Markel.
NAN Our Town on 10/18/2018