One mind. One mission. One heart.

The Pride of Owasso. It's not just your ordinary marching band, though it may seem like that to people who don't know much about the program or don't know anyone who was a part of it. Something I've found being separated from this group for a year is that what the Owasso Band has is special.

Yes, it is a marching band. They don't fly or breathe fire (though, they do dance). They have band camp in the summer and practice at least 10 hours a week in the fall, with various weekend rehearsals. There are the clicks of the metronome and the sounds of music blaring in sectionals. They get in the zone to learn their dots and play their music.

One Mind.

They go on trips to many places and compete with the hardest competition imaginable. They travel through rain and snow. Then, they leave their all out on the field at whatever competition.

One Mission.

Everything sounds pretty normal, right? Wrong.

What makes the Pride of Owasso different is not the numbers that they score while marching. It's not the hours they spend practicing. It's not because they have the best musicians on the planet.

It's the people.

That's right. The people of the Pride of Owasso are what make the band special. They're the ones that even if you hate each other, you'll look back and wonder how they're doing. The ones who faithfully hold the door for the entire band to leave the room. The ones who can be counted on for nearly anything. I mean, counting on them to fly you to the Bahamas is a bit of a stretch, but point is, they're good people.

They are the kind of people that make you want to invest yourself in a group.

One Heart.

Leaving the Pride, I was under the impression that everyone in a marching band felt the way I did about their home band. But they didn't. They were happy to leave. They were thankful for the experience, but they were done with the organization and didn't want to keep in touch with the ones they left behind. Or they just got burnt out on the experience.

But a trend in Pride of Owasso alumni is the continual support of the organization after they graduate. They still talk to those in the organization and enjoying watching the current Pride succeed. That's not normal.

The Pride of Owasso is something special. There's talent and music, but it truly is one heart that makes the Pride worth watching, worth enjoying.

Oh, and current Pride members:

Don't worry about prestige. Don't worry about numbers. Don't worry about titles. Invest in each other and that's how you'll be successful. You're not going to remember the score you got for prelims at OBA in 2017. You're not going to remember what your judges said about the ballad in part 3. You're going to remember the people. So keeping investing in each other and it'll all be worth it.