OTTUMWA, IOWA -- A student at Ottumwa High School with a talent for music has an opportunity to march across the country with a nationally recognized drum corps.
Molly Evans, a junior band member, has been playing the bugle since she was in fourth grade. She says it is the one thing that she always enjoys doing, and never dreads.
Now, Molly has an opportunity to showcase her talent with a summer internship with Dubuque's Colts Drum and Bugle Corps. She wanted to participate so she could improve her skills.
"We travel over mostly the east coast and the Midwest and always playing... we rehearse seven to ten hours a day," Molly said.
Molly's band directors, Troy Gerleman and Alex Mason, who both marched with the Colts in high school, encouraged her to look into the Colts. She had to audition with a piece of music they provided for her, and she was selected as one of the students across the country and across the world to take part in the summer program.
"It's an amazing experience, you never realize you could love something that... I mean it's a lot of pain, you work really hard, you work very hard, but it's worth every second of it so it's an amazing experience," Mason said. "It's great to see a student of ours go on to do this after we've had the experience and it's just pretty cool."
The internship costs about $3,000 per student, which Molly has already begun raising. But the funds have to be completely raised by May.
Gerleman said the community is welcome to sponsor Molly by contacting the high school, who will then send the funds to the Colts in Dubuque.
Molly wants to teach music education in high school, and is looking at attending UNI.
To learn more about the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps, visit their website.
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