This school year has been full of firsts for Taylor Mew, a 2012 graduate of Durant High School and current junior at Florida State University. It was her first year doing color guard in the university’s marching band and the first time she was seen marching on national television.
Because FSU’s football team competed in the Rose Bowl this year, the marching band was invited to perform in the Rose Parade Thursday, Jan. 1, in Pasadena, California.
“It was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Mew said. “There were so many cameras and so many people along the way. I’d always watched (the parade) and been interested in all the floats, but never dreamed of doing it.”
At more than five miles, it also was the longest parade she had ever performed in.
FSU defeated Georgia Tech, 37-35, in the ACC Football Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 6. As they were on their way home from the championship, Mew and other members of FSU’s marching band turned on the bus’ TV and found out at the same time as the rest of the nation that FSU would be playing in the Rose Bowl this year. Many students had expected FSU to be sent to the Sugar Bowl, instead.
“Everyone was so excited and surprised,” Mew said.
The marching band normally practices every day for two hours, and practices intensified as the band prepared for the Rose Bowl. One of the most difficult parts to prepare for was a spot in the parade route where all 420 members of the marching band had to coordinate a right-hand turn.
When Mew was a member of color guard at Durant, the marching band comprised about 120 students. The increase in size at FSU was not the only adjustment between her experiences in high school and college.
“We were very competitive at Durant, so practices and the general atmosphere were much more serious, whereas at FSU, we are performing solely for the entertainment of the crowd,” Mew said. “So it is a little more laid-back.”
Also while she was in high school, Mew was a member of Tampa Bay Thunder, an independent drum corps with which she toured the northeast United States and performed at a championship event in Rochester, New York.
Mew chose to attend FSU because the campus was beautiful and welcoming, and there were a wide variety of academic programs, she said.
“On my first visit to the campus, I knew immediately that Tallahassee would be my home for the next four years,” Mew said.
She is studying family and child science and hopes to attend graduate school for accelerated nursing.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.