Ben is an involved junior, participating in band and winter guard. He is the first chair in the trumpet section, taking on a position of leadership within the band. He is a spin rifle and flag performer in the winter guard.

Ben has been in band for eight years, and so far his favorite year was his sophomore year. In the fourth grade, Ben was offered to play three instruments. His parents recommended that he include the trumpet as one of them. At first Ben was skeptical about playing the trumpet, but ended up getting the highest score on it out of the three.

Velez’ favorite part about band is performing for the crowds of people. He enjoys entertaining them and showing off all of his hard work. “The music is especially important, the stories or emotions that can be shown in the music can be so powerful and get stronger the harder you work,” Ben explains. This year, Ben’s goal is to perform his grade five solo for a local event, with hopes of going to states based on his score.

He is looking forward to the MPA which is when bands from around the country go to the Musical Performance Assessment, perform, and get scored based on their performance. 

For any underclassman who are hesitant on whether or not they should join the band, Ben recommends it will be the best choice you will ever make in high school. He mentions, “You will make a family that will always be there for you and that you can trust. Band is a place you can go to, stay in when you don’t want to go anywhere else, or just play music and perform with a group of your closest friends. There is nothing like coming together to perform together something everyone worked so hard on and everyone contributes too.”