The Summit High School Wind Symphony qualified for Texas Music Educators Association’s (TMEA) State Honor Band Semi-finals for the first time in the school's history. They’re also the first high school in Mansfield ISD to advance to semi-finals in the honor band process. 

Summit Band Director Travis Whaley said achieving such a high level of success is a testament to the students’ resilience following a change in directing staff last year.

“The most humbling part of working with these students this year was not only their willingness and openness to allow the staff to push them, but to watch them push themselves to achieve the successes they wanted,” Whaley said. “I am immensely proud of this band, and they will go into the history books as one of the best I have ever had the honor of directing.”

The state honor band process occurs every odd year for 5A bands. Programs across the state submit non-engineered recordings of their varsity ensembles’ University Interscholastic League (UIL) concert music. The recordings have to be made and performed by the students in some sort of concert setting, and bands are allowed four chances to record. The directors then submit the best recordings to enter the Honor Band process to be judged in four rounds - Region, Area, State Semi-Finals, and then State. 

Summit High School’s Wind Symphony was one of four 5A bands in TMEA Area B to advance to the semi-finals. The judging of the finalist bands from all TMEA Areas will be held today at the Texas Bandmaster Association convention in San Antonio to determine the 2023 5A State Honor Band.