The pressure is on. Sunchet Saoji takes the field, and all eyes are on him.

Saoji, a senior and this year’s drum major, meticulously moves his hands to the musical score that he has fully memorized and extensively practiced.

To stay in tune to the music, the band looks to him.

“The biggest challenge was memorizing the score,” Saoji says.“I had to memorize all of the measure changes and tempo changes.”

Before becoming drum major, Saoji played percussion. He was in the pit for one year and on the drumline for two years.

Last spring, band director Ted Adams had students write a one-page essay on why they are great leaders and fit for the job as drum major.

“Sunchet was the clear choice,” Adams says.

As the leader of the marching band, Saoji needs to keep everyone on task.

Sometimes he has had to have difficult conversations with people, but that’s part of the job.

Adams was impressed with Saoji’s memorizing skills and ability to lead.

“[Sunchet] was always the first one there,” Adams said. “He put time and effort in, and has grown throughout the season.”

Adam Habshey, a senior mellophone player, said of Saoji: “He is very committed to band, and he made sure everybody was doing what they needed to do.”

Andrew Montero, a senior trumpet player, added, “He tried his very best and didn’t give up on anything.”

Both have said that Saoji kept morale up, and is positive.

When it comes to college, Saoji has an idea of what he’d like to do and where he wants to go.

Although he hasn’t decided if he wants to play in the band in college, Saoji plans on majoring in computer engineering, and his top school choice is Cornell University.

He is also looking at Carnegie Mellon, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Connecticut.

The marching band has had some great accomplishments in the regular season.

It won “Best Music” against Bethel, who is usually its only competition, but is a hard team to beat.

The band also has competed in hard shows where most judges have recognized its difficulty and have commended the band.

Saoji and Adams recall the time at their first show when they had a judge tell them it was

impossible to put their show on the field.

“We knew that we needed to work extra hard because we had something to prove,” Saoji said. “Every member of the band knew that we needed to put in extra effort to prove that judge wrong.”