Miss. Lions All-state Band wins for 29th time
The Mississippi Lions All-State band has won first place for the 29th year. The competition was held on July 6 at the Lions Clubs International Convention Parade of Nations in Hamburg, Germany. The band is comprised of 145 high school students from across Mississippi, including 27 from DeSoto County.
The band members compete for the prestigious positions throughout the school year. The application, selection process and auditions bring only the best of the best to the event.
DeSoto County was well represented with six students each from Olive Branch, Lewisburg and Southaven, four from Hernando, three from Center Hill and one each from Horn Lake and Lake Cormorant. Also, Hernando Band Director Len Killough was part of this year’s staff as the assistant concert director.
The concert band gave a performance on the evening of July 3 at Jones County Junior College prior to leaving for Germany the following day.
There are several Lions Clubs in the DeSoto County area: Eudora, Hernando, Olive Branch and South Branch Lions Clubs.
Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organiza- tion with more than 1.3 million members in approximately 45,000 clubs in more than 200 countries.
Since 1917, Lions Clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. Visit lionsclubs.org, or mississippilions.org.
DeSoto band members are as follows:
Olive Branch — Ashton Brooks (trumpet); Erin Brooks, (color guard); Zach Kendall (trombone); Johnathan Parr (bassoon); Jake South (trumpet); Lindsey Stobaugh (clarinet)
Lewisburg — Britney Carey (color guard); Reid Evans (percussion); Morgan Green (contra bass clarinet); Grace Hamm (clarinet); Kendall Kern (color guard); Rachel Tyrone (dancer)
Southaven — Zach Buchanan (percussion); Sarah Dixon (baritone); Eric Harper (alto saxophone); Kevin Patel (percussion); Kejair Sparks (baritone); Lindsey Wolfe (flute)
Hernando — Michael Hay (percussion); Mason Hill (percussion); Hunter McGuary (trombone); Kazandra Wright (trumpet)
Center Hill — Austin Cadenhead (tuba); Andrew Daniel (baritone); Christian Griffith (trombone)
Horn Lake — Elizabeth Sheley (color guard)
Lake Cormorant — Mariah Medile (oboe)