The name echoes through the room from the speakers. As a thunderous combination of applause and cheers follow this announcement as Coppell Colorguard senior Parker Jones claims his Performer of the Year award.
On Apri 7 atl North Texas Colorguard Association State Championships at CHS Arena, the judges introduced the first Performer of the Year award. Nominees were decided by the committee on NCTA for their performances.
“Every single school that has a colorguard team competes in NTCA,” Coppell Colorguard junior captain Pia Lala. “So out of all of the classes, the divisions, the different JVs and varsities, out of everyone Parker was chosen.”
Jones has been a part of Coppell Colorguard since junior year, though he did not plan to do so. A spur of the moment decision led to Jones putting colorguard down in his course requests. After seeing his friends competing in a regional competition hosted by CHS, Jones figured it would be fun and decided to give it a try.
“There wasn’t a lot of thought behind it,” Jones said. “I put it in my course requests just to see if I could do it.”
With the facts of being new coupled with being one of colorguard’s few boys, Jones started out in colorguard with a lot of pressure. Nonetheless, through a combination of hard work and determination, Jones became a performer to admire.
“I think a lot of expectation was put on him, but he hadn’t even touched this before,” senior captain Daphne Lin said. “Now look at him, he has grown so much.”
The colorguard’s big-little program acts as a way for underclassmen to get an opportunity to learn and grow in colorguard with the guidance of an upperclassman through getting randomly paired up. This results in helping underclassmen be better performers in colorguard and building relationships between the pairs.
“I’ve had my fair share of struggles, and through that, Parker has always been there for me,” sophomore Vaibhavi Gontuka said. “In general, I use Parker as an example.”
Though Jones has left his mark on the people around him, colorguard has similarly impacted Jones. When his name was called at the NTCA State Championships, Jones was taken by surprise.
“It felt like the culmination of all the work, and time, and tears, and laughs and everything that I’ve poured into this activity,” Jones said. “It felt like a great wrap up for my time in color guard.”
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