This past Saturday, Oct. 15, the Middlesboro High School Marching Band secured their place among the top bands in the eastern half of the state.

By placing eighth at the regional quarterfinals, the MHS advances to the state competition, which will be held Saturday in Bowling Green.

It has been nine years since the Yellow Jacket Band has gone to the state semi-finals, but the band has a long tradition of excellence. Longtime directors Kenneth Simpson and Barbara Arnett oversaw decades of success.

The spirit of that success was rekindled in 2001, when Ms. Suzanne Lee was appointed as the new director. Each of the past four years, Lee has led the band to perform increasingly more difficult music and routines during the rebuilding effort. As a result, community support and student interest continues to grow.

“The MHS band now performs music that few rival bands even attempt - and the volume for their size will ‘blow you away,'” said assistant director Scott Collins. “These developing musicians are an honor to our community.”

Recent graduates from Middlesboro now perform in the bands at Centre College, Eastern Kentucky University, Lincoln Memorial University, the University of the Cumberlands.

Last year the band progressed as far as Regional competition and were among the top 26 bands their size in the east.

Saturday, they will go up against the top 15 bands from AA schools in Kentucky. Some of the bands are from schools as much as three times larger than Middlesboro.

Each marching season the band wins numerous awards including first place trophies in their division. They compete every Saturday in September and early October. They customarily take awards for best color guard and best percussion as well.

The band also returned the the tradition of hosting the Pride of the Cumberlands Marching Band Festival, held the last Saturday in September. This festival brings in bands from all over the state to compete for placement at the state level. Many local merchants and individuals sponsor this event financially. The festival raises nearly half the needed $20,000 to operated the program beyond what the school system is able to provide.

“Thank you to all of our donors,” Collins said. “Your support is building a fine music program and developing a generation of leaders for our community.”