On Saturday, March 26th, the PPCHS Competitive Indoor Percussion group performed in the State Championships at Daytona Beach. In this competition, the team battled it out with other schools to climb the ranks and place high in the competition overall.

   Competing in this competition were seniors (insert), juniors Mallory Brown,  (insert the rest), sophomores Liana Samuel (insert), and freshmen (insert).

   Leading up to the State Championship, the group spent countless hours perfecting their performance.

   “We practiced a lot and sometimes had all day practice, but it was really fun to all be working on our show together and spending time learning and getting to know everyone,” says Mallory.

   “It’s exhausting but being together makes it worth it,” Liana expresses. “Accidents happen, [and] there’s a lot of literal blood, sweat, and tears we pour into this to reap what we sow.”

   Before going into the competition, the majority of the group was very excited to perform. However, this excitement soon turns to nervousness as the time for the team to perform gets knocked down to just a few minutes.

      “It wasn’t a clean ride to the end, but when we got there, all troubles subsided for the time that we could just perform, no matter how we did,” says Jarrett Rodriguez, one of the senior leaders of the group. “During and after the competition, it was all excitement throughout the whole day,” he says.

   After they finish competing, the group can finally rest knowing that the hardest part is over with.

   “It wasn’t a clean ride to the end, but when we got there, all troubles subsided for the time that we could just perform, no matter how we did,” says Jarrett.

   According to Mallory, the best part of competing is the aftermath, “knowing that you did really well on a part after practicing it a lot.” With the higher parts of the competition also come the lower parts, which Mallory also mentions, saying that having to wait until the end to get their scores is definitely one of the lower moments of the whole competition. In addition, “knowing that we could have done better on certain things” is also one of the lower parts for the team during the competition.

   In the end, indoor percussion’s hard work paid off when they placed seventh in their division! This is a big accomplishment considering that this was the group’s first trip back to championships since 2019!

   After the State Championships, the group stayed an extra day in Daytona to celebrate, hanging out at the beach and doing fun activities with one another.

   “It’s honestly amazing, I’ve never felt so welcome with a group of people like this, and I’ve gained a sense of purpose throughout this season,” says Liana.

   Congratulations to the Competitive Indoor Percussion group on their win in State Championships!