Alyssa Cousart is a current senior at Glendale High School, and she has taken a long journey through music. She has been part of GHS’s drumline all four of her years at GHS and has been doing percussion since middle school. She also plays the violin in our school’s orchestra, and she plays the tenor saxophone in the concert band. Alyssa is also the current captain of both our drumline and GHS Ignite teams. 

Ignite is made up of our drumline and front ensemble team, and it also includes students who have joined the GHS marching band. It is an opportunity for musicians to continue to compete after their first semester of school. 

This year, Alyssa led the GHS Ignite team to a first-place finish at the Winter Guard Association of Southern California (WGASC) competition on April 13, 2024. This was an incredible outcome, especially considering that they had previously finished in third place at other competitions.

What’s it like to be the captain of a team?

It’s scary, because I have a really big responsibility. And I think it was scarier last year, because I was a junior, and I didn’t have an upperclassman helping me.

How do you differentiate between being a leader and also being a friend to your drumline teammates? 

I think being a leader is during practice, and being a friend is out of practice. But during practice, I’m strictly a leader, because there are certain things that we need to get done.  

Can you tell us about your previous competition before you got first place?

Ooh, that was scary. It was raining, and we had to practice outside. They did give us an indoor practice area, but we had to rotate, so it was only a total of ten minutes inside.

And then we had to go back outside, and when finally we came inside, we had to wipe everything down. But you know, not all comps are like that. It’s just one of our rare experiences. 

How was your next competition different?

That competition went so smoothly. We didn’t get rained on like last time, and we were able to do our full warm-ups, and they went great. During the warm-ups, everyone listened to each other and we sounded great.

One of my biggest worries was our setup and tear-down time, because at our last comp, we got some points taken off. And the award ceremony was the most nerve-racking thing ever.

How did it feel when they announced that your team was the overall winner?

I kept thinking that every division they called wasn’t ours, because they hadn’t called us yet. As soon as they called second place, my heart started beating so fast. 

I remember hearing the rest of [my] Ignite [teammates] in the bleachers behind me freaking out, because they couldn’t believe it. Then they announced our school for first place. It was an unbelievable and incredible moment. 

We got a score of 81 with no penalties, [which is really high]. We haven’t [gotten] a score like that in ages, let alone first place. I was very proud of what we did that day.  

This was Alyssa’s second-to-last competition ever, and I’d say it went perfectly. Congratulations to our Ignite squad on their huge win, and congrats especially to Alyssa for all of her leadership! What a way to go out with a “boom”. 

(See what I did there? ‘Cause, ignite goes “boom”? Eh, you get the point…)

If you would like to join next year’s drumline or Ignite team, please contact Ms. Rangel at [email protected]  Keep that fire burning, Nitros!