Jessica F. Simmons

WILSON N.C — For the first time in decades, the Barton College’s marching band, the Marching Bulldogs, performed at the first home football game of the season on Sept. 24.

Director of Bands, Shawn Wellman said that together, the Marching Bulldogs will be entered into the Barton College Historical Milestones.

“This is big stuff. I could not be more proud of this marching band. I’ll never forget our meeting after the first game,” said Wellman. 

Wellman said he didn’t want to comment on ways of improvements for the Bulldogs, after the first game.

“This was a time for us all to acknowledge what a monumental day this was in the history of Barton College,” he said.

Since then, the Bulldogs performed once more at the second home football game on Sep. 29.

Wellman said that the Bulldogs started the semester with two weeks of band camp with basic and intermediate skills on Aug. 7.

“The progress we’ve made since August is truly unbelievable, and I hope everyone is enjoying this process as much as I am,” said Wellman.

However, before the band became the Marching Bulldogs known today, the Bulldogs started as separate organizations: the Barton pep band and Blue Flames dance team.

The pep band started back in 2019 and was led by Stephen Combes. Combes has experience as a percussion performance major and participated in the marching band for East Carolina University. In previous years, the pep band performed for Barton’s home football games, but took a short hiatus due to COVID-19.

The Blue Flames team originally began as a club that later on became a majorette-style dance team under the coaching of Jailynn Thomas. Thomas also serves as the Assistant Director of Admissions for Barton College. 

Thomas said that with the help of Campbell University’s Color Guard and Visual Instructor, Dwayne Barnes, they adopted a color guard extension.

“Adopting a color guard was truly something I was very nervous about taking on. I knew that my team didn’t have experience doing it and I surely didn’t have any experience coaching it,” said Thomas.

“Despite these barriers we were incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to work with a Barton Alumni who is a color guard expert,” said Thomas.

Thomas said that it is an honor and a privilege to coach Blue Flames and the color guard extension.

“I could not be happier with all the things we have achieved in such a short time. This team has definitely exceeded my expectations and have been working hard day in and day out both in practice and in the classroom” said Thomas.

“I couldn’t ask for a harder working group of individuals because not only has the team performed at both football games, they also learned four new routines in between games which was only one week’s time” she said. 

The members of both band and Blue Flames worked together to make a name for themselves and the program to keep their funding.

Wellman said that he is fortune to have Barnes, Combes, Thomas, and Erika Wellman as a part of staff.

“Managing all of the nuances of woodwinds, brass, percussion, color guard, and dance is no easy job, but we have a remarkable marching band staff at Barton which makes everything better,” said Wellman.

Wellman and Thomas would also like to thank Barton administration for their help with the band.

“Programs do not flourish without support. The support we receive from the Barton administration is unparalleled,” said Wellman.

“We must also remember that there was a marching band at Barton several decades ago that had great success here and we are grateful to be a part of that legacy as well,” said Wellman.

Wellman said that he hopes the students of the Marching Bulldogs are proud of themselves.

“This special group of people that sat silently in the band room, processing their thoughts after the first game, will always be remembered as the reason for any success the band has moving forward,” said Wellman.

Photo by Keith Tew