Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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10 of 12 weeks during the fall. Beginning with the KU game, the band played six consecutive weekends, five games and a march ing festival. We put in a lot of time, Brian Pelcak, sophomore in interior architecture, said. I had heard comments made that said we practice every bit as much as the football team does and to an extent that much was true. Three days a week for two and a half hours a day we were out there rehearsing for the show, plus what we did in sectional time, one hour a week or so. Practice was not the only time-consuming aspect of preparing a show. Before the students could begin the drill, it had to be desig ned. Although the drills had not been designed by hand for 15 years, using a computer program still took hours to completely design a formation. What took the most time was the actual coming up with ideas, Frank Tract, director of bands, said. The computer did facilitate things, m ake them easier to get going, but you still had to come up with the ideas and the drill. One night I came in at eight o ' clock to do something on the computer and usually it would take me a couple of hours to work one piece of music. I left at a quarter after [hive the next morning and I only did one piece of music. Each eight-to-I0 minute show the band performed at halftime contained three to four pieces of music. Tract said the computer program used for drills saved him time and eliminated problems. Before Tracz began using the computer program, he placed each dot, representing each band member, by hand. Without the program ' s accuracy, there were occasional instances with baud members running into each other or two people standing on the same yard line at the same spot. Tract said the computer program made things easier, but it was still a lot of work to create each show. Trans contribution to the band only began with charting the shows. 12r. Tracz was the biggest unifying factor for the band, Bath said. He motivated us when the work ethic started to dwindle. He just made it fun again. Tracz said he took center stage during rehearsals, but at performances, everything was out of his hands. The outcome of the shows depended on the band members themselves. I think overall as a group we had the old midwestern work ethic. Pcleak said. We really went at it and went at it hard. BalTa said hard work, good weather and camaraderie were key factors for a successful season. I tell people all the time that this beats the heck out of working for a living. I really enjoy this, Tracz said. °There are probably not a lot of people in the world who an say they do not look forward to retirement; that they look forward to getting up in the morning and going to work. This is what I ' ve always wanted to do and I ' m doing it at a place like Kansas State. It ' s like Disneyland for me. I tell people all the time that this beats the heck out of working for a living. It ' s like Disneyland for me. Preparing to take the field for a halftime performance, Jason Black, freshman in mechanical engineering and tuba player in the K-State marching band, cheers on the K-State football team. (Photo by Evan Semon) STUDENT PIPE

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continued from one 15 During the halftime performance at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence Oct. 7, Tim Schartz, junior in mechanical engineering, plays his part with his trombone. The band was outstanding at KU. Frank Tracz, director of bands, said, on the field, playing, marching, in the stands. 1 is a pretty no friendly atmosp d our kids beyond % th a lot of t stuff. (Photo mon) Before they left to go to K-State ' s football game at the University of Kansas, Traci addresses the marching band, giving them Last-minute parking instructions. (Photo by Evan Semon) UNSEEN

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of MOVING OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT AND INTO THE SHADOWS WrevaMIEN For freshmen, the fall semester meant a new beginning. But for seven freshmen from Halstead, Kan., it also marked the end of their time in the spotlight. For 13 years, Mike Hutmacher, photojournalist for The Wichita Eagle, documented Halstead High School ' s class of 2000 in pictures as its members grew up — field trips, playground scuffles, first dates, and football games. But high school came to an end, and seven of Halstead ' s 60 graduating seniors moved to K-State. This is emotional stuff, Jessica Farmer, freshman in education, said as she looked at some of Hutmacher ' s photos published in a magazine nearly a year after the project ' s completion. don ' t really miss Halstead, but I feel nostalgic looking back. Danielle Liffey, freshman in business said she appreciated the work Hutmacher did. The project that he did was nice because everyone got to see how we progressed through the years. Laffey said. But I ' m glad to be out of high school and ready to work toward starting my career. Although the public eye constantly watched over them, Erica Wesley, freshman in apparel marketing and design, said it did not change her life. For w it wasn ' t that big of a deal, Wesley said. °I mean he could have a camera right in our faces and we really didn ' t even notice. When we were younger it was a bigger deal, but by the time that we were seniors in high school, we were just so used to him being there. He had become one of us. Farmer said Hutmacher was like a member of their class, especially graduation day. I was fine. she said. I didn ' t even cry. Then I saw Mike and I started crying. I knew that was the end. Wesley said there was more hype about the class of 2000 because of Hutmacher ' s project. °I think having Mike around made being in the class of 2000 a bigger deal, Wesley said. continued page A young Erica Wesley could not have known K-State was in her future in 1987 when Mike Hutmacher began his photojournalism project. The project was completed 13 years later. (Photo by Mike Hutmacher)