Seven El Paso ISD bands advance to area competition
(EL PASO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT – Oct. 17, 2022) – Congratulations to the seven El Paso ISD high school marching bands who advanced to area competition Oct. 8 at the UIL Marching Band competition.
Three El Paso ISD schools – Franklin, Coronado and Irvin – will be vying for a spot at the state competition Oct. 29. Coronado and Franklin will compete in 6A in Odessa while Irvin heads to Abilene for the 4A competition.
El Paso, Burges, Andress and Jefferson/Silva high schools will compete in the area this weekend for rankings and ratings, however, this year 5A schools will not advance to state.
At UIL marching competition, eight El Paso ISD schools earned Division 1s – the most of any district in the city. High schools earning 1s were Franklin, Coronado, Irvin, El Paso, Chapin, Burges, Andress and Jefferson. Austin and Bowie received Division 2s.
In other marching band competition news, the 61st annual El Paso ISD Marching Invitational featured 25 bands from all districts at Franklin High School on Oct. 1. Franklin, Coronado, Jefferson and Irvin received Division 1s while Chapin, Burges, Andress, Austin, El Paso and Bowie received Division 2s.
“This was arguably the hardest competition because we had five renowned adjudicators from throughout the U.S., so they were really judging hard – not generously at all,” said Phillip Barraza, director of fine arts. “They were preparing everyone for UIL, which was the following week.”
At the Socorro ISD Marching Invitational, Coronado received second in the city and first place in the 6A competition. El Paso, Coronado, Franklin and Jefferson also were finalists in the competition. Congratulations to El Paso High for earning Outstanding Drum Majors and Outstanding Color Guard and Jefferson for earning Outstanding Visual Performance.
Photo by Leonel Monroy, Jr.