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My name is Andrea Edl. I graduated from ACHS in 2002. I was in the color guard for three and a half years. I was captain for the last two years with my good friend Lesley Newton and with co-captains Kristen Kessell and Shanna Casey, also great friends of mine. The first half-year was spent in winter guard before we did any shows. I was in Latin Sensation, Celtic Spirit, and Creatures of the Night. I was also in winter guard when we did the ‘Diamonds are Forever’ song and Blue Man Group and performed them for Swing Street. I played the flute in high school, so I was involved in another aspect of the music program at ACHS as well.
After ACHS, I went to College of Lake County for two years and got my Associate's degree in English in 2004. In the fall of 2004, I transferred to Northern Illinois University, where we went for Band Camp for color guard. In May 2006, I will graduate with a bachelor's degree in English and become an editor or something along those lines.
Color guard provided me with some of the greatest memories I have to this day. I still have every inspiration from every show I was in proudly displayed on my dresser at home. I can tell you that you will work very hard and it may not seem worth it at the time. But I know that when you do very well in a performance, the work definitely pays off. And if not for the payoff, do it for the friends you make! The friendships you establish during guard can be the most precious in your life. Even now, I am still as close as ever to the friends I made through it — we call ourselves the 'selected seven.’ I had so much fun, and hated that I had to graduate and leave it. Unfortunately, color guard at the college level is very demanding, and I wasn't able to incorporate it into my schedule. However, I still have my flag and rifle and pick them up every once in a while and spin them like it was yesterday. There are very few things in my life that I can say I have a passion for; color guard was, and still is, one of them.
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