SCHS Holds Band, Auxiliary Awards Program

Stephens County High School band and auxiliary members gather to mark the end of another year.

The Stephens County High School Band and Auxiliary held their annual awards ceremony last Tuesday night in the Tugaloo Center for the Perfoming Arts at the high school.

Seniors were presented plaques.

Stephens County High School Band Director Scott Wilcher said the seniors provided great leadership this year.

“We have a wonderful group of seniors that will be leaving us,” said Wilcher. “We always hate to see them go. We had tremendous success this year with them and the rest of the band members. We have some smart kids in this program that do awfully well in their schoolwork as well as the band program and I am just very, very proud of all of them.”

Meanwhile, Auxiliary Director Tamera Cash said losing 17 seniors in her group will be hard to replace.

“This coming year, we have only seven seniors and the past year, we had nine seniors so that is about average, but 17 is a tremendous loss in our program,” said Cash.

Besides honoring seniors, a number of special awards were handed out.

Those include:

Auxiliary
• Most Outstanding: Alex McEntire and Alexis Spratlin
• Best All Around: Samantha Spratlin and Katie Jones
• Director’s Trophies: Alex McEntire and Samantha Spratlin

Band
• MVP: Katie Akridge
• Best All Around: Emma Epps, Cydney Gunter, Katie Akridge, Nathan Collins, Ethan Masten
• Director’s Trophies: Cydney Gunter, Abbie Wood, and Jaron Lehman.

Also, the drum majors for the upcoming season were announced.

They are Amber Burns and Casey Ramsey

Both of them will attend the University of Georgia Drum Major Camp in June courtesy of music scholarships provided by the Steve Stovall Music Scholarship Foundation.

The Foundation was established in 1974 in memory of Steve Stovall, who was student conductor of the band.

Foundation Chairman Brent Stovall said scholarships have been given for the past 40 years.

“We have done it since 1974 and we have given somewhere around $200,000 worth of scholarship monies to deserving students and hope to continue to do this for many, many years to come,” said Stovall.

In addition to the Drum Major music scholarships, the Foundation will also donate money to both the High School and the Middle School bands to purchase instruments and music for the upcoming season.

Complete List of Award Winners

Band

  • Most Helpful 2nd Instrument: Jared Lee, Nick Castillo, Jaron Lehman
  • Most Improved Marching Band: Aaron Griner, Kaile Copelan, Ethan Masten
  • Most Improved Symphonic Band: Nick Castillo
  • Most Improved Jazz Band: Grant Dawson
  • Most Improved Brass: Tyler Brock, Zach Caudell
  • Most Improved Marcher: Tyler Standridge
  • Most Dependable: Kari Knickerbocker, Abbie Wood, Nathan Collins
  • Spirit Award: Abigail Vickery
  • Most Artistic: Kaile Copelan
  • Leadership Award: Asia Shealer
  • Most Talented Marcher: Will English, Abigail Vickery
  • Most Talented: Connor Garmon, Jaron Lehman, Mark Yergin
  • Most Outstanding: Grant Dawson, Chris Mace, Mark Yergin, Nicci Gautreaux, Connor Garmon, Jared Lee
  • Best All Around: Emma Epps, Cydney Gunter, Katie Akridge, Nathan Collins, Ethan Masten
  • Marching Band Soloist: Chris Mace
  • Drum Major Trophies: Jaron Lehman, Asia Shealer
  • Captain Trophy: Will English
  • Scholastic Achievement Award: Grant Dawson, Kari Knickerbocker
  • MVP: Katie Akridge
  • Director’s Trophy: Cydney Gunter, Abbie Wood, Jaron Lehman
  • Drum Majors for upcoming 2014 Marching Season—Amber Burns, Casey Ramsey

Auxiliary

  • Most Improved: Haven Beavers, Whitney West
  • Most Dependable: Sydney Caudell, Marissa Ivester
  • Most Dedicated: Taylor Rickman, Gabrielle Beck
  • Triple “A” Award: Rebekah Rickman, Jillian Spratlin
  • Indian Spirit: Mary-Hannah Pyeatt, Katie Sapp
  • Miss Showman: Alexis Spratlin, Jillian Spratlin
  • Most Outstanding: Alex McEntire, Alexis Spratlin
  • Best All Around: Samantha Spratlin, Katie Jones
  • Director’s Trophy: Alex McEntire, Samantha Spratlin