Wayne State College’s color guard is holding their spring tryouts for the fall 2025 season March 22 and April 5.  

“There are always two tryouts in the spring, typically one in March and one in April.” Color guard co-captain Paige Lingle said. 

Tryouts will be in the Rice auditorium, held from 1-3 p.m. on March 22 and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 5. 

Color guard is an opportunity for students to stay involved on campus and gain new experiences.  

“Students should join color guard because it’s a really fun organization to be a part of,” Lingle said. “It’s a fun extracurricular if you’re looking to meet a bunch of people, if you want to try learning some new skills or practicing ones you already have.”

Students who want to try out don’t have to have any prior experience or skills in color guard.  

“You can come in with no experience, like I did, and we’ll teach you what you need to know there,” color guard co-captain Caslynn Schmidt said. “It’s more about dedication, willingness to participate and being a good team member.”

Marching band goes hand-in-hand with color guard, as many color guard members started out in marching band. 

“I did marching band in high school, so I always heard of it, and then when I got to Wayne, I saw the color guard and I just went to auditions.” Schmidt said. “That’s how I got started, actually, and they taught me everything there.”

The tryouts are held in hopes to gain a few new members for the upcoming season.  

“Last year we had 12 on the team,” Lingle said. “There is four that graduated, so there are potentially eight that could be returning, but I don’t know if they will all come back out or not. We don’t have a set number on how many we are going to take, but maybe between eight and 12.” 

“Color guard season is the same length as marching band is, because we are a part of marching band,” Schmidt said. “So, it starts, you come in a week before with the other band members for band camp, and then it lasts until about October or November, it just depends on when state marching band is.”

Color guard performs at all of Wayne State College’s home football games, and they also attend some exhibitions and State Marching Band in Lincoln.  

 “We do all of the home football games, and then we pretty much go wherever the marching band does because we’re basically a part of the marching band,” Lingle said. “We normally will do the homecoming parade and the exhibition that day that’s also on campus. Our band director, Josh, he looks for normally a couple exhibitions to go to, so we always go to the high school State Marching Band in Lincoln.”

The marching band schedule aligns with the color guard schedule including practices and performances.  

“You actually have to sign up for the marching band class and guard will meet at the same time,” Lingle said. “We normally hold a two-hour rehearsal outside of that, that’s just for us so we can choreograph our routines, and we can go through field stuff if we need to.”

There are lots of opportunities for students to branch out and build a community on campus when joining color guard.  

“It’s such a fun experience, and I had never done it in high school, and so I wanted to try new things, and it ended up being my favorite thing,” Schmidt said. “People always tell me, ‘I’m curious about it, but I’ve never done it before.’ It helps you get out of your comfort zone and try something new.”  

Color guard showcases students and their talent to communities around WSC while making new connections and memories.