The Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band

Transcript

Okay, everyone, now it’s time to turn up the volume. We are excited to meet an SDSU alum who makes a career out of having fun. Dr. Kevin Kessler is SDSU’s Director of Athletic Bands and as a graduate of South Dakota State, is living his dream leading the Pride of the Dakota’s Marching Band. One of the nation’s largest collegiate marching bands. Kevin, please take it away.

– Thanks, Alex! Hello, everyone. As a student at SDSU, I was fortunate enough to be the drum major of the Pride of the Dakota’s Marching Band. It was the most important part of my college experience. Little did I know that someday I would be the director of this amazing group. The Pride is one big family. Lifelong friendships are made while we create entertaining and exciting shows for our audiences. We’re approaching 300 members strong, making us one of the largest college marching bands in the region. Students do not need to be music majors or audition to be a part. In fact, students from nearly every major on campus are members of the Pride. While we work hard to present our amazing performances, students also have a lot of fun. We have dress up days at rehearsal. We are hype in the stands throughout the game, and sections become like families, spending a lot of time with one another outside of rehearsal. It doesn’t matter to us if you’ve never marched before, we have incredible student leadership that will help you learn what you need to know and to make you feel part of something special. The Pride has a tradition-rich history of performing on the world’s largest stages, while creating a great game day atmosphere for our nationally ranked football team. We’ve marched in two Tournament of Roses parades, two Presidential Inaugural parades, and we were chosen to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. We’d love for you to join us and be part of the next chapter of the Pride’s incredible history. If you love music, if you love being a part of excitement and hype, and you want to be part of something special, then the Pride of the Dakotas is for you. Back to you, Alex.

– Thanks, Kevin. Sign me up for a spot. It’s great to hear from an alum who was inspired during their time as a student and is now paying it forward by leading one of the nation’s top collegiate marching bands. That was awesome! Take care.