Kaydin Quales, the Mighty Viking Band 2024-2025 Head Drum Major (along with Co-Drum Major Brianna Clouse and Assistant Drum Major Shelby Vining), led the Mighty Vikings to a sweepstakes award during a year of change: transitioning mid-summer from longtime director David Semones to new director Carrie Mitchell.
“I’ve always watched and studied drum majors,” said Quales, who wanted to share her passion for music and help lead the band into the new season. “This might be silly,” said Quales, “but I planned my senior year around the possibility that I could get drum major.”
“Accepting change [is] my biggest challenge,” Quales said. “It was very easy to get in that negative mindset […] and I really had to embrace the change; Mrs. Mitchell helped a lot.”
An additional challenge faced by the band was a lack of funding, a burden Quales took personally as she, fellow band members, and the band booster worked to drum up support.
“We have to pay for transportation to football games and competitions,” Quales said. “We need more uniforms for the growing band [and] sound pads in the band room.” The cost of all this, in addition to instrument repairs and transporting winter guard does not come cheaply.
Quales plans to attend East Tennessee State University and major in Early Childhood Education.
“[Young children] still have the spark in their eyes; their love for learning hasn’t been broken,” Quales said, describing her desire to become a teacher. “I struggled with having good teachers, [and] I wanted to be that.”
Quales also hopes to continue her higher education to become a principal. To leave her legacy, Quales hopes to share some words with this upcoming year’s drum majors and drum majors to come.
“Just because you have the highest student title in the band doesn’t mean you have to take everything and swallow it; it’s okay to be stressed and to show it, and it’s okay to ask for help,” Quales said. “Live in the moment, I took that for granted some days, and now I wish I could go back and relive it.”
