For over 10 years the Division Avenue Marching Band has been participating in regional competitions through the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA).

The Competitive Marching Band, which performs in regional competitions every weekend in the fall, gets quite a bit of support from the Division Avenue Marching Band Parents Association. The parents association has been around nearly as long as the band has been competing and helps the band raise funds as well as physically helping them at the competitions. Parents volunteer to help pack up all of the band's equipment and instruments, load them on the truck, go to the competition with the kids, unload the truck, and help carry the equipment and instruments, which includes large drums, chimes, and a xylophone, out onto the field. This is a very important role because in the competitions the band has only 15 minutes from the time they start carrying their stuff onto the field to the time they are off the field after their performance. This 15 minutes includes performance time for the band. Help from the volunteers is important so the students can focus on their marching and playing.

There are currently 55 members in the competitive marching band. These students voluntarily give up their weekends to perform at football games, in parades, and in these competitions. The competitions are difficult because they are watched closely by judges to make sure that they are stepping correctly as they play, as well as being judged on their performance. Despite the hard work, the band members love this group.

Last year, when there was a question about the band being cancelled because most of the staff members left, the members of the band came out in droves to the school board meeting to implore the school board and the administration to do something to save the band. By the time the students went to the meeting the problem had already been brought to the attention of the board and they were already working on a solution. Now the band is back to being fully staffed and is thriving. According to Ellen Dippel, the treasurer for the Band Parents Association, the kids "were devastated" when they thought the band might be done away with. This group is a very large part of these students' lives.

On Oct. 18, at 12 noon, the Division Avenue Marching Band will host their own competition. There will be 12 other bands, which are part of USSBA, that will be coming to Levittown to perform. Eleven of the bands performing, Brentwood, Hicksville, Manhasset, Deer Park, Huntington, Mineola, Division Avenue, Islip, Sachem, Garden City, and Lindenhurst are from Long Island. The other two bands are Highland Regional from Blackwood, New Jersey and Tuckahoe from Eastchester, from upstate New York. Each year only a small number of the 200 groups who are a part of USSBA are chosen to host a competition. This event is a fund raiser to support the activities of the band throughout the year and to offer scholarships to graduating seniors in the band. According to Dippel the scholarships are "to reward them in some way for a tremendous amount of effort." Money is raised through the sale of journal ads and food sales. Part of the money raised also goes to pay for the five judges sent by USSBA. The winners of this and other competitions will go on to the East Coast Championships which will be held at Giant Stadium in November.

The bands that are in USSBA vary in size. They are broken up into five categories; group one has bands that have up to 51 members; group two has bands with up to 75 members; group three has bands with up to 101 members; group four has bands with up to 135 members; and group five has bands that have 136 or more members. Because there will be several of each group competing in the Levittown competition, the Band Parents Association is expecting well over 2,000 people, between performers and spectators, at their competition. Everyone is encouraged to come out and support the Division Avenue Marching Band at their home competition.

Last year the Band Parents Association had 25 members for 49 kids in the band but many other parents came to help out during the competitions, and according to Dippel, almost all the parents come out to help at home competitions. Each year the association holds a membership meeting to bring in more parents and to introduce themselves to the parents of the new members of the band. The band is growing each year and has recently gone from being a group one band to being a group two band.

According to Dippel the band is great for the students. She said, "It just makes for a cohesive group. They learn to work together." She explained that counting out steps while marching in formations and playing makes each student have to depend on the others to be in the correct position. She added, "They learn to depend on each other and to cooperate and work together. They help each other out. By the time they are seniors they are so amazed by what they can accomplish. They all get to be better musicians, of course, but it also makes for such a nice group, to the point where they are friends outside of the band." She continued on to explain that the Band Parents Association is great because it gets parents involved in the group with their children.

The band is looking forward to the rest of their competitions this season and the championships at Giant Stadium, which is over the course of two weekends. Come out for their home competition on Oct. 18 and see how all their hard work and dedication is paying off.