On May 1, Wando held its first ever Fine Arts Signing Day for all students who planned on continuing their education in various fields of fine arts. Fields of study ranged from commercial music, instrument performance, and theater, to filmmaking, visual arts, and color guard. As the fine arts chair, choir director Eric Wilkin- son watched as his students walked across the stage.

“We had a fine arts signing day to celebrate students that are going on in their fine art area,” Wilkinson said. “It’s just to celebrate students that either receive scholarships or are majoring, minoring, or have auditioned for lots of important things at the college level.”

At a school accustomed to hosting sports signing days, this is the first time there has been a signing day for fine arts seniors.

“I’ve heard of other fine arts signing days in other schools and so I was kind of aware that some people do this. Then we had a couple of parents that have seniors that said ‘hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we could have this hap- pen.’ [They] did some communication with the school and then from there I partnered with them and took the reins,” Wilkinson said.

After many days of planning, the idea began to turn into a reality. Navigating through logistics became a challenge for Wilkinson.

“The hardest part really is who, what, where, what, when. So who do we need? And then getting seniors to fill out the forms. When is it going to be? And how do we get the logistics of what’s the setup on stage, the decorations, the program, the powerpoint, and then coordinating with the current Wando teachers to speak about individual students. It’s a lot of coordination but [it was] really great,” Wilkinson said.

In the end, 22 students signed to continue the arts for their desired school. For senior Luke Interante, this all started with getting accepted into his dream school. As the tuba section leader and marching health coordinator in the band, Interante had his eyes set on music.

“[Northwestern University] offered me the best scholarship for school and it’s also one of the best schools out there in general,” Interante said. “Professor Gene Porcary has been one of my idols for four years now. He’s one of the best tuba players out there, so I never even expected to get into his studio.”

With his school selected, Interante was asked to participate in fine arts signing day.

“One of the parent chaperones that was organizing it was the one reaching out and was telling us about it,” Interante said. “We sent them our accolades and things we had succeeded with and then where we were going to school.”

After weeks of anticipation, the moment had finally come. The seniors walked onto the stage and were greeted by members of the band, orchestra, and chorus who serenaded the performing arts center with the national anthem. For senior Bianca Randall, this mo- ment was one she will not soon forget. Ran- dall plans to attend The University of Alabama for color guard.

“When I was signing that paper I was like ‘there’s no way I actually did this.’ It was crazy that I’m here and I’m signing for Alabama because when I first started color guard in college,” Randall said.

For Randall, signing that paper was more than just pursuing a hobby.

“Color guard has world class levels and Alabama’s winter guard is at a world class level. I want to take it until I can’t do it anymore,” Randall said. “[For me] it started off as a way that I can find friends and it still is that way, but now it’s somewhere I feel myself. When I’m spinning I can be me, when I’m with my team I can be me. Color guard has become my second world.”

As students signed to their desired colleges, educators watched as their students took the next steps into the world of fine arts.

“It was overwhelming in a positive and beautiful way,” Wilkinson said. “I’m just so proud of all the students there, just knowing the level of commitment that it takes and… it’s just exciting to see them get to take it to the next level and to see where their paths will lead them.”