Stellar Sweep! BV Marching Band Takes Home 1st Place and 5 Caption Awards at West Park Competition
BV Newsroom
By Nicholas Dam
Fair Oaks, CA - November 6, 2025
The Bella Vista High School Marching Band took everyone by surprise last week on Saturday with a convincing first place victory in division 2A at the West Park Field Show Competition. The band’s 2025 show is titled “Our World, A Canvas”, acting out the creative process in a musical manner. The show also features artwork from artist Alejandra Ruiz separated into multiple different “puzzle pieces” that are constructed over the course of the program.
At this competition, the band not only took first place, but also took all five caption awards- a rare and an impressive achievement. With a final score of 75.175, Bella Vista outperformed three other bands in their division, El Dorado High School, Florin High School, and Oakmont High School. The margin between first and second place was significant- 4 points! They took home the caption awards for high effect, high music, high visual, high color guard, and high percussion- a sweep across the board. The competition, held at West Park High School, also featured dozens of talented schools ranging from divisions 1A to 5A. I had the pleasure of interviewing 2 leadership band members, showing us the ins and outs of the Bella Vista Marching Band and their achievement at West Park:
Andre Olivas (Tenor Saxophone Section Leader)
Q: How did you prepare your section for their competition?
A: We worked on a new visual that was added earlier in the week. Since it was still new to us, some of our members were still struggling.
Q: What can you do to prepare your section going forward for championships?
A: I will prepare my section for championships by focusing on points in the show that are still unclear which can lead to us losing points by redefining them to add clarity.
Q: What’s different about this year’s band?
A: I think what is different about this year’s band is that there’s much more experienced players and upperclassmen compared to last year. Making a stronger sense of leadership in the program.
Reylan Perez (Tuba Section Leader)
Q: What do you think made our performance stand out from the others?
A: To be honest I don’t think our performance stood out a lot from the others. We knew what we were doing, we did it and we did it well. We also have a very good show this year, it’s really fun and cool to perform, music and visuals are good.
Q: What kind of leadership did it take to keep everyone focused?
A: The way I did it, I made sure that everybody was having a good time, being confident and prepared. But also have fun by not putting too much pressure on people, because that causes people to mess up.
Q: What did you learn from this experience that you’ll take into championships?
A: I have to watch my dot in fourth movement and remember the background part during the second visual in the second movement. Other than that I have been doing great because I’ve known what to do for the past three years.
For many students, the victory represents the culmination of months of hard work and determination that began during summer band camp. Meanwhile, time is ticking for seniors- who look to end their high school marching band runs with a bang in their last two competitions at Sac State and the James Logan Championships in the next two weeks. As the season comes to an end, the Bella Vista Marching Band looks ahead to future competitions with excitement and a renewed sense of pride in what they can achieve together.
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