Valiant received third place at their first competition. Source: Valiant Instagram
While this year’s Marching Band season has come to a close, the 2020 Valiant season has just begun. Valiant is Virginia Tech’s winter guard and is an extension of the Marching Virginians Flag Corps. The team travels to various competitions in Virginia and North Carolina and performs a 4-minute long show. For information about Valiant, check out their website or this article from last year.
Unlike the Marching Virginians, Valiant is entirely student run. This year, Olivia Monseur is Student Director and Hailey Schmidt is assistant director. Olivia and Hailey, both members of the Marching Virginians Flag Corps, are eager to take on this role.
“Valiant is different than any team I’ve ever been a part of, and leading it this year is such an honor.”
-Olivia Monseur, Student Director of Valiant
“I’ve always wanted to teach color guard and going into this season, I knew that I’d want a chance to help write the show with our incredibly talented Olivia Monseur.”
-Hailey Schmidt, Assistant Student Director of Valiant
Since Valiant is student led, the creative atmosphere is highly cooperative; the entire team plays a large role in the creation of the show. All new ideas are welcomed at Valiant practice.
“One of the things I love about valiant is how collaborative the show is. It isn’t just written by one person. It is written by members, for members. Because we’re student-led there’s an element of excitement and passion from every member, and that passion is what drives our team to succeed.”
-Olivia Monseur, Student Director of Valiant
“Members can make and adjust the show to all of our strengths and to push each other to perform a show that all of us know and love.”
-Hailey Schmidt, Assistant Student Director of Valiant
This year is exciting because Valiant has gained many new members, some of whom are wind players in the Marching Virginians. This is great for the future of Valiant because these members can continue the legacy of this team and add to the pool of creative ideas.
Some of Valiant’s new members at their most recent competition. Source: Valiant Instagram
“The winter guard and band community as a whole are just something special… Coming into college, I wasn’t sure if I could handle the workload along with winter guard, but I’m so glad I joined Valiant.”
-Paige Corbin, Freshman Marching Virginians Saxophone
Valiant is excited to perform their 2020 program: “Entropy”. In physics, entropy is the movement from order to disorder. The show explores both the scientific creation of the universe and the metaphorical chaos of life. The show features a poem written and recorded by Marching Virginian Alana Hassett, that links these ideas.
“It is so incredible to see this idea that I had in my head being performed in front of me. It is even better in person than I could have ever imagined.” -Olivia Monseur, Student Director of Valiant
At their first competition, Valiant placed third and scored a 62.65, an excellent score for a debut performance. We are eager to see how Valiant grows in their 2020 season!
Valiant’s competition schedule. Source: Valiant Instagram
To see videos of the team’s performances, check out the 2020 Season page on the Valiant website.