After four years of marching in the hot Texas sun, presenting at competitions and performing during the football games, senior Ava Perrone will put away her flag as co-captain of the color guard. 

She started her experience as a freshman, being encouraged to join by her older sister, and continued her journey throughout her high school career. She knew that she wanted to continue even after her sister graduated because of the welcoming environment that was provided for her. 

“I really fell in love with the activity and being able to perform,” Perrone said. “I wanted to create the same environment for other [new] people that they created for me when I was coming in. I knew that I would always have people to fall back on, and I wanted to pass along the love.” 

Perrone has been a co-captain since her junior year, where she went through a process of auditioning, essay writing and training in addition to managing her grades, setting an example for younger members and overall keeping her image up.

“It’s definitely a big responsibility,” Perrone said. “It’s making sure everything gets done to ease the stress of other people, but in the end it’s worth it.” 

Perrone said her favorite part about color guard is performing at the football games and seeing the hours of work and dedication being enjoyed by other people. 

“I love the feeling of going out to a competition and showing everyone what we’ve worked on,” Perrone said. “I love football games and performing for the school [because] they are pretty hyped and excited. It’s awesome to hear the cheers and clapping so I really enjoy performing.”

With hours spent together during football season, Perrone has been able to bond and build friendships with the people in color guard. 

“I have built friendships that will last me a lifetime,” Perrone said. “It’s fun because you get sick of each other a little because we were together 24/7 for months on end. We’re all going through so much hard work [so] we bond over that.”

Perrone is going to attend Austin Community College to pursue her passion for fashion design. She hopes to design costumes for future color guards, or work in fashion marketing.

“I love all of the different possibilities you can do with fashion and I want to give people good costumes,” Perrone said. “I know what’s good to wear and what’s not [in color guard] because you don’t want to be in band season and wearing the hottest costume in Texas summer.”

This summer, Perrone and her older sister will be marching in Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps, a professional marching band that travels around the country. 

“I am so excited for this,” Perrone said. “I haven’t spun with my sister since my sophomore year, so I’m really excited to perform with her and go into a new type of color guard.” 

Color guard’s positive impact has changed Perrone’s perspective on herself and others, she said.. 

“I was so self conscious when I went into it as a freshman,” Perrone said. “But once I got there, everyone was so welcoming and it was so mind boggling [to me] that people could just want to be [my] friend. I’m not so worried about what people will think and I feel like I can actually live my life.”

One of Perrone’s biggest takeaways from color guard is her ability to manage difficult situations and interact with different kinds of people, because of the training that she said she had to do as a co-captain. 

“It’s helped me learn how to deal with different types of people,” Perrone said. “I have better people skills and I want to keep trying to build on that as I get older when I’m going into the real world.”

Overall, Perrone said her experience in the color guard program has been rewarding and life changing for her. 

“I think it’s [been] one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had,” Perrone said. “It’s an experience that everyone should have, that family that you build and the community that you have. I’ll miss having my group together but I’m excited to go off and try new things.”