On Fri., Sept. 12, at 6 p.m., the Eagle Regiment hosted their annual Pops & Pies event, at which they performed this year’s show in front of an audience for the first time. Tickets were available for purchase ahead of the event on the E-store; tickets for guests were $15 and tickets for members of the Eagle Regiment were $6.
Band members were instructed to be at school at 4:30 p.m. by new band director Jeancarlo Napoles. When they arrived, they got dressed together, putting on each sleeve of their uniform at the same time as Napoles gave a speech.
At 5:30 p.m. the school’s gates were opened for those attending. After 30 minutes, Napoles gave a speech in the gymnasium to guests and the Eagle Regiment commenced their performance. Recently retired band director Steven Rivero was even at Pops & Pies, supporting his former students.
This year’s band show, entitled Whispers of Arakkis, is inspired by the movie “Dune.” The Eagle Regiment performed twice for guests.
“Pops & Pies was such a fun night,” sophomore and Eagle Regiment member Leila Shareef said. “The band sounded awesome, the music had so much energy and it was just a really great time all around.”
After the performances ended, guests and band members filed into the cafeteria where they were served pizza and desserts.
Once food was served, raffles were conducted around 7:45 p.m., with each section of Eagle Regiment putting together a prize basket.
“Pops & Pies was very fun and very hype,” sophomore and color guard member Taylor Nicolosi said. “Color guard put together a spa basket for the raffle and performed behind the band during their performance. You could just feel the energy the entire night.”
Subsequently, awards were given out to primarily eighth and ninth graders in celebration of their hard work, improvements and overall commitment to Eagle Regiment. Pick-up time was at 8:45 p.m. and everyone was expected to be off-campus shortly after.
Eagle Regiment looks forward to their Pops & Pies performance again next year, at which they hope to put on yet another show they can be proud of. In the meantime, they will continue working on Whispers of Arrakkis in preparation for upcoming competitions.
“We’ve been putting in a ton of work on Whispers of Arrakis and with our first competition just a week and a half away, it’s starting to feel epic — like stepping into the desert winds of a whole new world,” Shareef said.
