Mount Vernon Signal • Thursday, August 26, 2010 • Pg. B3

Juniors Josh Stallsworth, Jarrett Hamm and JakeMink.

Juniors Kyle Shelton, Megan Gray, Mark Berry andWill Walker.

Submitted by A. B. SharpeRehearsals have continued

to be hampered by theweather. It has been either toohot or too wet or both. Theforecast for this week is look-ing much better and thatshould help out greatly as thepreparations continue for theupcoming season.

There are seven Juniormembers of the 2010 March-ing Rockets. As upperclass-men they are getting closer toall those benefits of senioritysuch as being first in the wa-ter line. All of them have sev-eral years of marching expe-rience under their belt and cando fundamentals while asleep.They are a close-knit groupunited in their love of music.

Mark Berry plays the

Juniors of the 2010Marching Rockets

Tickets available for

A Taste of LavenderGarden Party

at the Mount Vernon Signal Office9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday - Friday

Tickets are also available from Debbie Brown,Kathy McCauley or First Christian Church.

The event will be held at theKentucky Christian Assembly Camp near

Brodhead on Sat., August 28 from 1 to 3 p.m.and proceeds will benefit the Prayer Garden

being built. Tickets are $25 each.

Tantalize your palette with tastings of foodand drinks that have been prepared withhints of culinary lavender.

trumpet for the MarchingRockets. This is his third year.Mark says, “the best part isbeing with my friends and theshows we do are real good.”However, he also says,“marching on the hottestdays” is his least favorite part.Besides the trumpet, Marksays, “I like fooling aroundand learning about the tenorsor quints drums.” In his sparetime he likes video gamingand writing horror stories. Hisfavorite show so far is “lastyear’s ‘Casino Royale’. “Iliked the music and every-thing about it. It was 007.”And he thinks “This year’sshow is doing really well.‘Wicked’ is a wicked goodshow.”

Megan Gray has spent

three years playing pit percus-sion for the Marching Rock-ets. She plays suspendedcymbal, bass drum, tambou-rine, xylophone, and bells.She loves being in the bandbecause she says, “I loveplaying music.” Megan doesnot love “the practices be-cause we stand out in the sunall day.” When she has thetime she enjoys “doingFacebook and MySpace onthe computer.”Her favoriteshow is last year’s “‘CasinoRoyale’ but I think ‘Wicked’will be even better. I think it’sgoing great so far. I love themusic we’re doing for‘Wicked’.”

Snare drummer andDrumline Section Leader,Jarrett Hamm has been in theMarching Rockets for thepast four seasons. He loveshis role as section leader be-cause, he says, “You get tohelp other people.” He alsosays, “Both the best part andgreatest challenge is to keepmomentum going, trying tokeep a positive attitude in dif-ficult circumstances. Mydrumline is all new to march-ing this year.” His favoriteshow is last year’s ‘CasinoRoyale’ “It was my first yearas a section leader and I’mproud of what we accom-plished.” While Jarrett playsthe snare drum in thedrumline he is also proficientat the full drum set, guitar,and bass. To relax he plays thedrum set, target shoots, andbuilds things. About thisyear’s show, “Wicked” hethinks, “It started off goodand has now hit a plateau, butit should take off again soon,as long as everyone workshard.”

Trombonist Jake Mink hasalso been in the MarchingRockets for four years. Thebest part for him is the com-petitions. “I love the band toshow all we’ve learned afterthe long days of practice.” Hisleast favorite part is “the heat,especially when it’s in the90s.” His favorite show is lastyear’s ‘Casino Royale’. “Iloved the James Bond themeand the music.” Jake enjoysplaying the guitar as well asthe trombone. And when notrehearsing or competing, “Iread a lot. Stephen Kingbooks are my favorites.” Asfor this year’s show, he says,“I think it’s going to be a greatshow. We’re a little behindright now but we’ll get it.”

Kyle Shelton has been inthe Marching Rockets for 3years. He played in the PitPercussion the past two sea-sons and this year is march-ing Drumline with the bassdrum. He plays cymbals, bassdrum, bells, gong, triangle,tambourine and now march-ing bass drum. When asked

what the best part of band ishe said, “The breaks…to getsome relief.” His least favor-ite part this year is “march-ing. I loved being in the pit.”Kyle’s favorite past show is“‘Casino Royale’. We wentall the way to State with it. Itwas good.” When not withthe band he enjoys sitting athome and watching movies.About all the preparations for“Wicked” he said, “We’restruggling right now due tothe weather but I think it willbe a good show.”

Josh Stallsworth hasplayed the saxophone in theMarching Rockets for thepast four years. His favoritepart of being in the band is“the experience of competi-tions.” He does not love somuch the rehearsals in “thesun, the relentless sun.”“Nightscapes” is his favoritepast show. “I thought it wasthe best.” Besides playingmusic Josh likes to relax byplaying basketball. He thinksthis year’s show ‘Wicked’“has a lot of potential. So farit’s going all right.”

This is Will Walker’sfourth year playing trumpetwith the Marching Rockets.The best part of band for himis “going to competitions andbeing with my friends.” Hisleast favorite part is “the prac-tices because they are so longand difficult.” His favoriteshow is ‘Nightscapes’. “Ithink it was the best. It wasoriginal and I loved the mu-sic.” Besides the trumpet Willsays, “I’m getting pretty goodon the guitar and I like tryingout new instruments when Iget the chance.” For relax-ation he likes to “play my gui-tar, read and take long walkson the beach.” He thinks “thisyear’s show,’ Wicked’ is“coming along slowly butsurely. I like it better than‘Casino Royale’ and we wentto State with that. I think we’llmake it to State again thisyear.”

Band NotesFundraising is a necessary

part of any band program tohelp offset the high costs andprovide opportunities for allstudents who wish to be in-volved in the music programshere in Rockcastle.

Currently, Trailer AdSales are underway. Thosebusinesses and individualswanting to show their supportfor the band, and get somevaluable advertising, maycontact band parents to haveads placed on the band trailerwhich travels to all the bandcompetitions and the localparades throughout the year.This trailer carries the instru-

ments and other equipmentall over the state followingour faithful bus and driver JoeMasten as he transports theband to wherever we need togo. It has been seen by thou-sands of people. Please callAnn Craig at 308-3086 formore information if youwould like to advertise on theband trailer.

Attention youth!!! Therewill be a Hunter Educationcourse offered September 1st,2nd and 4th @ RockcastleCounty High School audito-rium. The program will be-gin on Wednesday eveningthe 1st from 6:00pm to9:00pm and continue onThursday evening from6:00pm to 9:00pm with thefinal test being given in theThursday night session. Thecourse will conclude withrange work on Saturday the

Hunter Education Course4-H Youth Development

John McQuearyRockcastle County Extension Office

4th from 9:00am to noon, des-tination will be announcedduring class. Participantsmust attend all three sessions.Call a neighbor or a friend andbring them to these importantsessions. Call Extension Of-fice @ 606-256-2403 formore information.

Educational programs ofthe Kentucky CooperativeExtension Service serve allpeople regardless of race,color, age, sex, religion, dis-ability or national origin.

24-Hour Child Care FacilityOpen Monday-Friday • Enrolling Birth - 12 years

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