Updated: 2 hours ago
Words by Dilan Mehta
Photos by Angela Sgro | Posted December 10, 2025
Montgomery High School’s marching band closed out its 2025 season with a sweep of major awards, a series of standout performances, and a renewed sense of pride in a program that has quickly been rising to statewide prominence.
The Montgomery High School Marching Band earned first place in the Group VA division at Hillsborough, Somerville, and the New Jersey State Championship, culminating in their title as state champions.
From electrifying Friday-night shows to top-ranked competition appearances, the band’s year marked one of the most successful in school history, one that students, staff, and families say they’ll remember for a long time.
Competitions were at the heart of Montgomery’s amazing season, and senior co-captain Eesha Gadde explained just how rigorous and meaningful they are. Each event centers around the band’s field show, this year titled “Wonderland”, a production they spent months refining.
Montgomery High School Marching Band performs Wonderland.
“At a festival or competition, we perform our field show, which we spend the whole season perfecting,” Gadde said.
There are two main types of events: ratings festivals, which award bands a rating from superior to good and so on, and competitive placements, where bands are scored and ranked within their size division.
Montgomery earned superior ratings at both the Neshaminy and Easton festivals, placing them at the top of their category.
In competitive events, the band competes in Group V, the largest division for ensembles with more than 100 members. This season marked Montgomery’s first year in the USBands circuit, where they entered the A Class, designed for bands newer to the circuit’s competitive structure.
Despite the transition, Montgomery earned first place in the Group VA division at Hillsborough, Somerville, and the New Jersey State Championship, culminating in their title as state champions.
Across all five events this fall, the band also captured a series of coveted caption awards, including Best Music, Best Visual, and Best Overall Effect, which Gadde described as especially meaningful.
“We were able to have an impact on our audience by performing with passion and emotion as well as technical excellence,” Gadde said.
They additionally took Best Percussion at four competitions and earned Best Woodwinds at Neshaminy for the fourth year in a row, rounding out one of the strongest competition seasons in the program’s history. They also won Best Color Guard.
The whole team is incredibly proud of these accomplishments, according to Justin Guo, Drum Major and also a senior.
“It’s really a testament to how much this ensemble has grown. When I first joined this band, I never could have imagined that we’d reach these heights. Even the freshmen went above and beyond, and every single student gave it their all this year,” Guo said.
The Montgomery High School Marching Band in precisely straight lines.
Beyond awards and trophies, students say the heart of the season came from the memories built along the way: inside jokes on the field, late-night laughter on competition days, shared snacks during breaks, and the feeling of stepping onto the turf together under the stadium lights.
Ben Koshy, a junior and Sousaphonist, said, “My favorite memory was being on the band bus, just hanging out and relaxing with friends after all the effort we put into our performance.”
Guo added to this sentiment.
“My favorite memory was Neshaminy, it’s usually the last competition of the season, so there’s a lot of speeches from the seniors and a note of finality, but this time I remember the director saying that this was no longer the final tournament of the season and that there were still steps to be taken forward, and that resonated with me.”
This season is the culmination of a history of musical performance in Montgomery. The modern Montgomery marching band began in 2003 when Mr. Adam Warshafsky, now the supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts, took over the program.
Before that, there was a small band of students participating in Hopewell’s annual Memorial Day parade.
Mr. Kawika Kahalehoe, director of the symphonic winds, chamber orchestra, and concert orchestra classes, said: “The concert band program would dress in marching band uniforms and march in the parade. That’s pretty much the extent of what they had as a marching band.”
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The program has since developed significantly, going from 40 members during its 2003 founding to 130 members today. It has also changed in a variety of other ways.
Rebecca Palmer, Montgomery Marching Band director since 2022, said: “There have been a lot of added elements to our show, such as our sound system, synthesizers, and electronics. The color guard has also grown substantially to 30 students. We’ve also added a bunch of staff members who help us all throughout the season.”
Over the years, the program has expanded its repertoire, introduced more complex drills, and earned higher placements, building a reputation for consistency and creativity.
Looking ahead, Palmer and the student leadership are already thinking about what comes next.
“We’d like to bring ourselves more into the modernization of the art form and continue developing and enhancing the show by incorporating props and enhancing storytelling, but still maintaining our core values of music excellence first and creating a welcoming, family-like community within the ensemble,” Palmer explained.
The band hopes to continue building its reputation, adding new members, and pushing the artistic boundaries of what Montgomery can achieve.
As students and staff reflect on this historic season, one thing is clear: The 2025 season will be remembered not just for its victories but for the spirit that made them possible. Montgomery’s marching band didn’t just win titles; they built a legacy that will inspire future musicians for years to come.
