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11 Prairie WINTER 2025 Drum and bugle corps is a bit of a niche hobby, but for trumpet player Grace Trumpy '25, it is in her blood. "My dad and cousins marched," she says. "I've been going to shows since I was three." Now, Trumpy has earned her spot among drum corps royalty as a world championship-winning member of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps. Dubbed "marching music's major league," competitive drum and bugle corps is like marching band, but to the extreme. It's more competitive, more theatrical, more technically precise. And with only brass and percussion instruments, the corps' sound is more intense. Marchers audition to become mem- bers of exclusive groups and then compete for a chance to be in what is considered the big game: the Drum Corps International World Champion- ship. When Trumpy made the cut as a member of the Bluecoats, she was one of 165 talented brass players, percus- sionists, and color guard members — all between the ages of 14 and 21 — selected from hundreds of aspiring marchers nationwide. She spent months with the ensemble working to perfect their per- formance. During the academic year, Trumpy traveled to Canton, Ohio, (where the Bluecoats are based) for intensive weekend camps of music rehearsals and fitness. Summer com- prised an 8,000-mile tour during which the Bluecoats performed at shows around the country, competing against other world-class drum and bugle corps. All of this was in pursuit of the pag- eantry of a 12-minute musical and visual production that demanded the flawlessness of a concert at Carnegie Hall and pushed the physical limits of the human body. But it was all worth it when, in August, Trumpy and the Bluecoats won the 2024 Drum Corps Inter- national World Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. "Knowing that I have fulfilled a dream of mine that I have had since I was a kid is such a rewarding feeling," Trumpy says. "I wouldn't change a minute of it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat." — Emily W. Dodd Have you heard? A world champion marches among us. daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants. Her partner is an immigrant, too. After learning about Solidaridad during Spanish for Law, Justice, and Human Services, a course with professor Ann Warner-Ault, she began volunteering in the fall of 2022, inspired to use her bilingual capabilities to make a differ- ence in her community. Alan Paluck, Solidaridad's volunteer coordinator, says Macias is sensitive to the challenging circumstances faced by asylum applicants, which allows her to offer much more than translation support. "Kelly's ability to listen and develop rapport with our neighbors during those interview sessions is remarkable," he says. Recently, while Macias was reviewing the final asylum narrative with a family, an 8-year-old girl took the phone and thanked her, in Spanish, for keeping her parents safe. "That touched my heart in a way I never expected," Macias says. — Ben Seal Grace Trumpy '25 (above, on left) delivers an encore performance at the Bluecoats' home show in Canton, Ohio. FACING PAGE BILL CARDONI; THIS PAGE JOSH CLEMENTS FOR BLUECOATS

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