Valley Prep Adds Drone Show to Halftime Festivities
by B. S. Ryter
Drone shows are becoming more and more popular. Many towns and organizations did drone shows during July 4th celebrations in addition to fireworks. It’s a new and novel thing that will probably continue to grow in popularity.
Valley Prep has a small band that performs during halftime, and they do a great job. But, Valley Prep’s band director, Holda Knote, wanted to shake things up. She saw a drone show at a July 4th celebration, and she thought that she needed to add one to their halftime show. Valley Prep has a great technology department, so she knew they had the brainpower to make it happen. She started a fundraising campaign to buy the drones and necessary equipment; the cost was around $20,000.
Knote said, “We needed two students to conduct the drone show, so we decided to have tryouts. Wow, it was super competitive. I had parents trying to bribe me with cash and vacations. So, I expect this to be one of the most coveted spots in any of our extra curricular activities going forward. Every kid in our technology department tried out, and we selected two super smart kids: Sun-Bae Moon and Bubba Singh.” Moon and Singh have been practicing with the band every day.
Moon and Singh will do a different show at each of Valley Prep’s home football games. Moon said, “We practice about 3 hours per day. We don’t want to let Ms. Knote down, and we want to uphold the standard of the Valley Prep Tech Department. It’s pretty grueling stuff. My GPA has suffered some since taking this on. I did have a 4.5, and now it’s down to a 4.3. I really hope it doesn’t hurt my chances to get into Harvard or MIT.”
Knote said, “We’re going to be the only school in the state and in The Valley with a halftime drone show, and we hope to set the standard just like everything else we do at Valley Prep. After all, our motto is “Set the Standard.” I expect Sun-Bae and Bubba to do well, but I won’t hesitate to replace them if the show is not up to my standard.”
Valley Prep students and fans can’t wait to see the drone shows at each home game. We expect other schools to add drone shows, but as usual, Valley Prep sets the standard.