Winter Guard Holds Extravaganza, Prepares For World Championships

The Newtown Winter Guard program will host its 13th Annual Newtown Winter Guard Extravaganza, at Newtown High School, this Saturday, March 6. Performances begin at approximately 4 pm and will include exhibitions by Newtown’s Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Junior level Winter Guards. There will be 28 color guards from the area at this event, including guards from Bethel, Masuk, Trumbull and Norwalk. The award-winning Newtown Varsity Winter Guard will perform “Stargaze.”

The Nighthawk Varsity will travel to Dayton, Ohio, in April, to compete in the Winter Guard International World Championships. It will also compete in a WGI Regional event in South Brunswick, N.J., later this month. Newtown varsity has been the South-West Conference champions four years in a row; MAC champions six years in a row; and was WGI World Championship semifinalists in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Guard captains are juniors Nicole Scalora and Sarah Smith. The 2010 guard members include juniors Victoria Braga, Melissa Charles, Olivia DeWald, Marissa Metcalf, Alyssa Wade, and Sarah Walton; sophomores Sara Hetzer and Grace McKinley; freshmen Brianna Bauch, Cherokee Belval, Melissa Christiano, Caitlin Fitz Gerald, Brandon Ghent, Victoria Hanulik, Grace Hubbard, and Meaghan Kelly; and eighth-grader Paige Thanasoulis. Staff is Bob Findley, Janos Pergely, Michele Liscio, and Victoria Whittington.

The Newtown Junior Varsity Guard consists of 14 sixth and seventh graders from Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School. Its 2010 show is “Quest for Gold.” Members are sixth graders Cammie Gaudett and Becky Romano; seventh graders Sarah Braga, Courtney Datin, Maddy Hintzen, Aly Montague, Kelsea Morshuk, Nina Bonvini, Kenzie Casey, Kayleigh Granville, Caitlin Jones, Bridget O’Donnell, and Brittany Violet; and tenth-grader Becca Tobin.

Performing the show “Journey to Friendship” will be the Junior level guard comprising fourth graders Lincoln Gray and Jo Risko; fifth graders Kristina Assner, Lizzie Calabrese, Michelle Destefano, Lauren Granville, Allison Hsu, Erin Kelly, and Emma Maki. Newtown’s Junior Guard is made up students from Reed Intermediate School and Newtown’s elementary schools.

Admission to Saturday’s event is $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors. The schedule is available at www.musicalartsconference.org.

The Guard is also seeking donations to help make the trip to Ohio possible, which may be mailed to: Newtown Varsity Winter Guard, C/O Newtown High School Marching Band & Color Guard, PO Box 3333, Newtown, CT 06470. Checks should be made payable to: NHSBPC with the notation that this is for the Varsity Winter Guard WGI. For more information, the Winter Guard may be contacted via email at nhswinterguard@aol.com.