The Marching Virginians is an amazing program that has brought together so many students over the years, creating friendships, marriages, and families. However, some of our current Marching Virginians have known each other long before they ever made it to Tech; they met in high school!
Most of these MVs have marched together before and a few of them have known each other their entire marching careers. I wanted to make a post recognizing these people and show the connections that continue to link MVs together!
Blacksburg High School
From left to right: Ethan Van Dyke ’23, Matthew Sampson ’22, Brian Parker ‘23
These MVs graduated from Blacksburg High School in Blacksburg, VA. They met through their high school marching band and performed in the upper level concert band at Blacksburg High as well.
Centreville High School
From left to right: Nathan Boller ’23, Katelyn Purdy ‘23
These MVs graduated from Centreville High School in Clifton, VA. They met through high school marching band and are continuing their marching careers at Tech together.
Chancellor High School
From left to right: Paige Martin ’21, Erin Slezak ’21, Paige Corbin ’23, Jenna Slezak ‘21
I just had to include some of my own high school friends. We graduated from Chancellor High School in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Paige Martin entered high school with my sister, Jenna, and I and we met through the marching band there. At the end of our sophomore year, we volunteered to visit Chancellor Middle School to recruit new band members where we met Paige Corbin and all but embarrassed her into joining marching band! When Paige Corbin committed to Tech this past spring, we were excited to once again encourage her to join the marching band, this time at Tech! The Twins and the Paiges are united again!
Christiansburg High School
From left to right: Nathaniel Humphreys ’20, Audrey Jones ’23, Nathan Blevins ’23, Leah Childers ’23, Ty Kwak ’23, Logan Epperly ‘21
These MVs all attended Christiansburg High School in Christiansburg. Leah Childers says “The six of us were not all in the marching band at the same time because there’s a four year age gap, but we all met because of marching band.”
Deep Run High School
Left to right: Jacob Palmer ’21 and Sara Elwood ‘21
These MVs are from Deep Run High School in Glen Allen, Virginia. Sara met Jacob when he was her trumpet section leader in high school. Jacob was originally supposed to graduate from Tech in 2019, but took his Mormon mission in Indonesia in the middle of his college career. This is his first season back as an MV since his mission. Sara is excited to be in band with him again and now they get to graduate together!
Fairfax High School
From left to right: Sara Young ’22, Nick Nguyen ’21, Matt Forrest ‘19
These MVs are from Fairfax High School in Fairfax, Virginia. Matt Forrest graduated this past Spring, but happened to be in Blacksburg this past weekend for a Fairfax alumni picture.
George C. Marshall High School
From left to right: Brandon Castillo ’19, Alana Hassett ‘19
These MVs graduated from George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, VA. Alana said “[we] became friends senior year of high school. Now we’re both seniors, and we love playing together in the MVs!”
Hidden Valley High School
Left to right: Meredith Smith ’22 and James Whitacre ‘22
These MVs graduated from Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke, Virginia. Meredith Smith had this to say about how she met James:
“We always had seen each other during band but we didn’t really become close until junior year. We had a band exhibition that was decently far away, and James and I sat together and talked the whole time! From there our friendship grew and now each time we go home we make it a point to get together and spend time with our old group of friends. Fun fact: James wasn’t planning on trying out for the MVs until I finally talked him into it!”
Hunterdon Central Regional High School
From left to right: Jenna Sims ’22, Brad Lanza ’20, Tyler Pozarycki ‘21
These MVs graduated from Hunter Central Regional High School in Flemington, NJ. Brad said this about Jenna and Tyler:
“We all met through our high school's band, but were in different sections and graduation years. [I] first came to tech and joined MVs, followed by Tyler a year after, and Jenna a year later. I can remember answering general questions about Tech and the MVs for both Tyler and Jenna; and was super excited to see some familiar faces try out for the MVs, let alone commit to Tech - being an 8 hours away from home. It also makes me really happy that we have represented our high school band well and hopefully have made some positive impacts on the MVs around us.”
Jenna Sims also sent me an email about Tyler and Brad, expressing the same enthusiasm:
“I honestly can't distinctly remember how we met, but I feel like I've always known both of them! However, I know both of them helped me out when I told them I was coming to VT and trying out for the MV's. I remember that Tyler came to our high school's spring concert my senior year and told me how much he loved being in the band and was really excited when I told him I was trying out. Brad helped me register and answered a lot of my questions about band camp. When I first got here, it was definitely nice to have some familiar faces in the band, especially being from so far away. I still think it's crazy that we're all from a small town in NJ, but we ended up marching in high school and college together!”
John Champe High School
From left to right: Hendrya Stevenson ’23, Natasha Chauhan ’21, Camille Mu ‘23
These MVs graduated from John Champe High School in Aldie, VA. The three of them met through marching band. Natasha was in band leadership when Hendrya and Camille entered high school, and the three of them got to know each other over the years before they ended up at Tech.
Lee-Davis High School
From left to right: Dalton Hare ’19, Faith Kalten ’21, Hunter Allen ‘22, Niki Kreynus ’21, Isaac Pollard ’21, Matthew Ridder ’21, Alex Hare ‘23
These MVs graduated from Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville, VA. Many of them marched together before they came to Tech and now they continue to do so as one of our bigger groups of high school MVs.
Lord Botetourt High School
From left to right: Jacob Cromer ’23, Kate Stevens ’20, Kensley Bullins ’21, Reagan Bullins ‘21
These MVs graduated from Lord Botetourt in Botetourt, VA. The Bullins twins met Kate and Jacob through their high school marching band. Kensley said “Jacob, Kate, and I are in the same section, the saxes, and we are going on seven years of friendship.”
McLean High School
From left to right: Katie Rizzolo ‘20, Michael Deitch ‘22, Anna Gamboa ‘22
These MVs graduated from McLean High School in McLean, VA. Katie says the three of them have known each other for a long time. Katie and Anna met when Anna was in 7th grade and Katie was in 9th. Anna joined the JV winter guard and Katie joined the varsity team.
“A few years later, Michael joined the winter guard team as well and the three of us spun winter guard together and played our instruments in the concert band setting as well (I played flute and Anna played oboe). We’ve been a team together since day one and it’s great to continue that and be a part of this organization even if we span different sections!”
Patrick Henry High School
From left to right: Aaron Kyle ’21, Jada Braxton ‘22
These MVs graduated from Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, VA. Jada and Aaron met in their high school marching band in 2014. They also played in their school’s Wind Ensemble together.
Quince Orchard High School
From left to right: Danny Flynn ’22, Phil Johnson ‘23
These MVs graduated from Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, MD.
Stafford High School
From left to right: Caleb Duniver ’23, Mason Green ’23, Nick Alford ’22, Matthew Homoroc ‘22
These MVs graduated from Stafford High School in Fredericksburg, VA. According to Nick, they grew close by being leadership in their marching band back home.
Nick said, “I was Drum Major senior year of high school, so I developed close relationships with everyone in the band. Matthew was snare captain, Mason was Brass Captain I believe, and Caleb was the sousa section leader I believe as well, so we all had leadership positions and met each other mainly because of leadership meetings and stuff like that. Matthew also lives right across the street from me back at home so we do hang out a lot in our free time. All of us have become really close over the years and it will definitely continue to stay like that through our years together as MV's.”
Stone Bridge High School
From left to right: Geoff Pierce ’21, Andrew Fuerst ’23, Alex Pierce ’23, Dylan Guy ‘22
These MVs graduated from Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, VA. Geoff and Alex are brothers who come from a Marching Virginians and Hokie family, so it was no surprise they joined the band at Tech. Alex and Andrew have been friends for most of their lives. The three of them met Dylan through their high school’s band.
Tabb High School
From left to right: Nathaniel Carneal ’21, Andy Taminger ‘21
These MVs graduated from Tabb High School in Yorktown, Virginia. Andy and Nate met in their high school marching band. Now, they are roommates together at Tech.
W. T. Woodson High School
From left to right: Mannie Oliver ’21, Ashlynn McDonald (class of ’20) ’21, Nabra Asgedom ‘21
These MVs graduated from W. T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, VA. Nabra and Mannie actually met in their middle school band at Frost Middle School. When they entered high school, they met one of our current drum majors, Ashlyn McDonald. They will all be graduating together in 2021.
Warren County High School
From left to right: Brady Bryant ’20 and Evan Fox ‘21
These MVs graduated from Warren County High School in Front Royal, VA. Evan Fox says they met officially in band, but had known each other before high school.
West Springfield High School
From left to right: Alex Santiago-Anaya ’23, Kate Herrema ’22, Dogeun Lee ’22, Lena Campbell ‘20
These MVs graduate from West Springfield High School in Springfield, VA. Kate said she grew to know her classmates on long band trips:
“We met through school/high school band. I guess we really got to know each other through all of the time spent together traveling to marching band competitions and spring trips to places like Disney World, National Concert Band Festival (Indianapolis), Atlanta, and Chicago (at least those were the trips we took while I was in high school!).”
Woodgrove High School
From left to right: Nikki Jean ’22, Jessica Stewart ’22, Joseph Tolly ’21 PhD, Luke Guyre ’21, Zackory Biggers ‘20
These MVs graduated from Woodgrove High School in Purcellville, VA. Zackory and Luke were able to be in the high school marching band with everyone pictured, but Joseph graduated from Woodgrove before Jessica and Nikki entered high school. Now, they are all able to march together!