This past weekend both of the Band Program’s indoor ensembles—the Blue Radiance Winter Guard and Indoor Percussion Ensemble—took to the floor one final time for the 2022 season, competing in the Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit (FFCC) Championships at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center.

Students and staff were in Daytona Thursday, March 24 through Sunday, March 27, allowing students and families to enjoy some time together before capping off the end of a historic season. The winter guard team arrived first on Thursday and after having team time together at an arcade and family dinner, took the rest of the evening and following morning easy to prepare for their final performance of their 2022 program, “For a Moment.”

Heading into the weekend the team was seeded third in their Coast One Division of Scholastic Class AAA, but they would not stay there for long. With a little more than three and a half hours between their performance the team was anxious to hear the results, but the wait was well worth it.

As the placements for the preceding Beyond Division were announced the team prepared itself for its turn, starting with fifteenth place slowly moving up to fourth. When Riverview had not yet been announced the team knew they had medaled, but had to wait for the later Anastasia Division to go through their placements before moving on to the top three for each division.

After much anticipation, the announcer went through third and then second place until it was officially announced: The team had earned first place and was taking home the gold with a score of 78.14. The winter guard’s gold at Circuit Championships is the first in Riverview High School history for any indoor ensemble, and is the third Championships medal for the team, having earned silver in 2015 (the first medal of any kind for an ensemble in school history) and silver last year in 2021.

Saturday morning brought the Indoor Percussion Ensemble’s turn to present their program, “A Single Step,” one final time. Competing in the Yamaha Division of the Scholastic Marching Class AA against seven others, the team was seeded fourth, meaning they only needed to edge out above one other team to medal—and they did just that.

After experiencing the same anxiety as their winter guard counterparts, the team was relieved to hear they were not on the bubble in fourth, but instead earned third place with a score of 75.30 taking home bronze medals. This is the second time the percussion team has medaled at Circuit Championships, having done so first in their inaugural 2019 season.

A huge congratulations to our students and staff for these remarkable achievements this year, and a heartfelt thank you to our Booster Board and family volunteers for their support that helped our students make history—again!