Going to a state competition is a great accomplishment for a team or individual. Now imagine going to two state competitions in the same week. 

Junior Emma Thomas attended state for band and cross country. 

“Going from one to another was a little stressful because of the quick turnaround,” Thomas said. 

Attending state is stressful enough, but to do it twice in one week can be incredibly difficult on a high school student. Missing one day can leave a student to fall behind in classes, but in this case Thomas had to juggle her school work and prepare for her state competitions.

“Usually [practices] were done [in the] morning, so after school I would just come home and get all my homework out of the way,” Thomas said. “But when we had after school rehearsal for band, I would make sure I had everything done for the next day so I could just come home and not worry about anything.”

Thomas’s contribution to her cross country team and band program has impacted other students as well. 

“She has just made me get more involved in my sport and be able to love it a lot more than I did before because she makes it a lot of fun,” cross country teammate and freshman Claire Enright said. 

With juggling band and cross country one would think Thomas would be extremely stressed and maybe even a little cranky, but she is far from it. Being great at multiple things can lead to cockiness or becoming selfish, but Thomas loves supporting others before herself. 

“I would describe her as a very caring person and compassionate towards others. She always  cares about others before she cares about herself,” Enright said. 

There is no “I” in team and Thomas is the perfect example of it. She is a hard-working and great team player. She loves to cheer her teammates on and work together. 

“Getting to run and do things with our group of girls is so much fun and supporting each other at our meets is awesome,” Thomas said. 

Competing in these two activities takes some serious dedication and is hard to work around at times. 

“I think that she is really good at marching, and she fully dedicates herself to marching even though she sometimes cannot make it all the time,” fellow band member and freshman Sophie Boomstra said. 

“I made sure I knew all my stuff like music and marching dots for band so when I had to skip it wasn’t as big a deal because I already knew all my stuff. And then if I was missing cross country [for band], I would make sure I got my run in on my own by talking to Coach Enright and getting the workout,” Thomas said. 

Being able to compete in two state competitions is rare and Thomas was able to contribute to the now fourth in the state marching band and thirteenth in the state cross country team.  

“It was so exciting to have the opportunity to go to both state competitions because not a lot of [students] even get to go to one, so going to two is awesome. Just hanging out with my friends in both activities and getting to show off how hard we’ve worked this season was so much fun and really rewarding in the end,” Thomas said.