The Marching Cavaliers received a superior rating at the 2023 Virginia Band & Orchestra Directors’ Association Marching Band Assessment recorded at CHS.

This assessment scoring system is set up on a scale from one through five, with one being the highest score and five being the lowest. One is superior, two is excellent, three is good, four is fair, and five is poor.

The band got a One from each judge including two music judges, a visual judge, a general effect music judge, and a general effect visual judge; giving them an overall score of one which is categorized as a superior rating. The band learned of the rating through a spreadsheet sent to Mr. Logan Epperly, band director. It’s also available on vboda.org.

“I was shocked but also very happy when I found out,” Vik Ince, freshman and color guard captain, said, “I really do think we deserve it because we’ve worked for it for months, with band camp starting in mid-July and our competition season not ending until a couple of weeks ago.”

“When I found out I felt proud because that’s a really high score considering we were all super tired the day we filmed our performance because it was super hot,” Dynashia Epps freshman and baritone player said. “I definitely think we deserve it because we’re all really talented.

“I think we worked really hard for it because we all practice at least three days a week, plus a competition or football game most weeks,” Epps said.

Other bands that received the same final score as Chatham were Bassett County High School, Christiansburg High School, Brookville High School, South County High School, Jefferson Forest High School, TJHS for Science and Technology, Grassfields High School, James Madison High School, W. T. Woodson High School, and McLean High School.

“I’m very proud that our little band could score as high as a bigger, more funded band like Bassett,” Ince said.

” I think it’s insane that we scored the same honestly because Bassett and a lot of the other bands are in a way higher class than us,” Epps said.