With the fall season coming to a close, the marching band marches their last few steps of the 2022 show, the Starlets following in suit now with the “Best Color Guard” Award in hand.

Robinson Starlets Co-Captains Petra De Jenzano (‘23) and Gavyn Granger-Welch (‘23) end their senior season with a high note with this award.

The Starlets are the color guard team for the Robinson Marching band and serve as the visual aspect of the band’s show, including dancing and equipment such as flags, sabers and rifles.

Their latest performance was in the Newsome Music Festival, Saturday, Oct. 15 with the Robinson Marching Band.

They competed against other high school color guards and bands with the goal of being the best in the county. The co-captains helped prepare the Starlets for the event.

“In order to help our team succeed, we both [Granger-Welch, De Jenzano] have to teach the other starlets and help them improve because on the field we get scored based on how well we spin together,” De Jenzano said.

The Starlets performed and managed to pull it off. They competed in their marching show called “The Mad World” which consisted of very articulated choreography.

“We performed at 7:30,” De Jenzano said. “Even though our actual performance is only about nine minutes long, competitions are an all-day event.”

Performances are judged on how difficult the choreography is and on how well it is executed. In addition to practicing their moves, spins and catches, the starlets have to practice their entrance and exit, all done in a very specific way, to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Part of this process is getting into character as best as possible.

“It’s important to embody the character writhing the show,” Granger-Welch said. “Specifically, for this show, we’re supposed to be acting like we’re going crazy.”

The captains performed solos and duets throughout the show to help them earn some extra points. Even after all of this effort, the team got third place out of three bands overall, with Gaither High School taking the 1st place title. Though the Starlets placed first in their own division.

“Out of the other color guard in our division, our difficulty was the highest, and we achieved it well,” De Jenzano said. “We won best color guard of Class 4-A.”

The coming up Music Performance Assessments (MPA) (which would be their last performance) is a new hope for the Starlets. Getting a superior (the highest score possible) in the MPA will ensure the team gets to participate in state competitions, so they are hoping to improve their performance in the last two weeks of their season.

“I’m looking forward to our final competition,” Granger-Welch said. “… I’m also really excited for the future of color guard.”