Lauren Chuderewicz; Source: LinkedIn
On the morning of March 26th, 2021, the Marching Virginians received an email announcing Lauren Chuderewicz to be the Executive Officer (XO for short) of the 2021-2022 edition of the Marching Virginians. In a normal year, there would be at least two candidates and the entire band would vote on who they wanted to be their Executive Officer for the coming season. As we all know, the past year has been anything but normal. Because Lauren was the only applicant for XO this year, there was no election. When asked, Lauren said that she was surprised to find that she was the only applicant but excited to take on the role nonetheless.
If you’re a current Marching Virginian and are interested in getting to know your incoming XO, you’ve come to the right blog. For starters, Lauren is a rising junior from Virginia Beach, Virginia. She has been in the trumpet section of the MVs for the last two seasons and her major is Computer Engineering. Her favorite color is yellow. When asked to share a fun fact, Lauren said that she has been skiing nearly all of her life and loves the winter sport. Additionally, she is one of four; she has twin sisters who are in high school and a younger brother at UVA. While she loves the music and marching aspects of being in the band, Lauren’s favorite part of being an MV is that it introduced her to her friend group and so many other great people that she wouldn’t know otherwise. Below, you can find her answers to a few more in-depth questions.
What are you most excited about when it comes to being the XO?
“Last year was a hard year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and I’m excited to step in and implement little changes that I feel will benefit the whole band. I’m just really excited to serve the band in a bigger role.”
Lauren and her trumpet; Source: Lexie Hackman
What do you think will be the most challenging part of your job as XO?
“I know that I’ll have to put a lot of work into it, however I’m really willing to do that, and I know that I’m going to have a great officer team that will really help me with that. I think the hardest part will be being flexible with this season because we don’t really know what it’s going to look like yet, but I know either way we’ll make it the best it can be.”
Trumpets and the MVs first socially distanced performance on campus for football in English Field; Source: Lexie Hackman
How do you think your time as Treasurer prepared you for the role of XO?
“I definitely got a lot of insight into what the officer team does in general; before I was on the officer team, I didn’t understand what the officer team does. I didn’t realize how much work actually goes into running the band from behind the scenes. Helping other officers with event planning and sitting in on meetings has helped me learn how much we actually do. I’ve learned a lot from the upperclassmen officers, and they’ve been great role models. I’m excited to step into the role of Executive Officer and use what I’ve learned from them to be successful.”
The full band socially distanced at the Boston College game; Source: Lelan Yung
When asked about her inspiration to run for XO, Lauren told me that she noticed everything that Karen Small (the former XO) did, and she thought it would be neat to try for the position. She also loves the band and wanted to step into a bigger role in order to help more people than she could from the position of Treasurer.
Though this season will no doubt have its own set of unique challenges, Lauren Chuderewicz seems ready to tackle those challenges and help the band be the best it can possibly be.