Guard Banquet

Parents and Students,

This is just a reminder that our banquet for students and staff will be held this Saturday, the 23rd of April, at 11 am. We are so excited to wrap up this amazing season with a party. Since it's starting in the early afternoon, we will be having a parfait bar consisting of yogurt, various fruits, granola, and beverages. If you have any suggestions for something that would go with that, please send them our way and we will see what we can do!

We will be sharing this party with the Cadet guard and are so excited for our various activities! I have listed the address of the party below, please take the time to see how long it will take you to get there. We only have about 1.5 hours to get all the partying out, you wouldn't want to miss anything!

Additionally, you HAVE to turn in your uniforms at this party. Please make sure that they are clean and folded nicely in a gallon size bag. We just need the dress. The red accent, t-shirt, and shorts were purchased with your own money, so they are yours to keep.

Please let me know if you can or cannot make it to this party so we can plan on food. Let me know if you have any questions!

-Maddie

Weekly Update 3/13

Parents and Students,

Congratulations on another great weekend!! I am so proud of each of you and your efforts this season! We have two weeks left, so lets push hard and end on a great note! Here is this weeks schedule.

Mon: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

Wed: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

3:30-5:30 AFHS North Gym

*optional* Friday 4-7pm AFHS North Gym

Now, let me expand on that optional Friday evening. We have two wonderful Varsity Guard girls that are running a clinic that will imitate how field show rehearsals will go. This will be a great learning experience for everyone. Everyone is invited, not just our eighth graders. Please come! Some fun people may be there ;) 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! Thank you for everything you do!!

Saturday's Competition @ Northridge

Parents and Students,

Thank you for your patience as I have gotten all of this information put together for Saturday! Here it is!

Call Time: 10:30am FULL hair and makeup

Bus Leaves AF: 10:45am

Arrival at Northridge: Approx. 12-12:30

Performance time: 2:35pm

Awards: 5:40pm

Bus Leaves Northridge: 6:50pm

Arrival at AF: Approx. 8:30pm

This is going to be a long day, so I would suggest packing healthy snacks and water for the bus ride. I promise you will want it! As well as your uniform in a garment bag, makeup for touch-ups, hairspray, bobby pins, etc. Since we are taking a bus, your equipment will go underneath the bus, so your flag MUST be in a flag bag. You should have one by now, if not, you need to find someone who will let you share. I would also suggest taking your own black (if your a rifle, also white) electrical tape for any adjustments that may need to be made to your equipment. 

Once we finish performing and awards are over, you may go home with your parents/legal guardian if you so desire, but it must be with YOUR parents/legal guardian and no one else. We often get asked if someone can ride home with their friends parents or have their siblings drive them home, I'm sorry, but we cannot.

If you so desire to go home with your parents, I need to see you leave with them, and you need to see me check your name off of the list for the bus ride home to make sure that I don't panic when I call your name for role on the bus. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask! See you bright and early!

Weekly Update 3/6

Parents and Students,

I am so incredibly proud of everyone and all of the hard that they have been putting into this show! Let's keep working hard and push hard for the next three weeks. Here is this weeks schedule!

Mon: NO GUARD

Wed:6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

3:30-6pm AFHS North Gym

Saturday: Call Time 10:30 am @ AFHS

Please note the time change on Wednesdays afternoon rehearsal. Because we are winding down to the end of our season and missing a Monday morning, I don't want to miss out on the rehearsal time. Another reminder that Wednesday afternoon is mandatory because Saturday is a performance. Please work things around that schedule. 

Saturday, you need to come in full hair and makeup. We are taking a bus to the competition and it is pulling out of the high school at 10:45. We will leave you if you are not there on time and you will have to find a way to get to Northridge for the competition. Missing the bus will not excuse you. We have a fairly long drive ahead of us so I would suggest bringing a lunch with you to eat on the way up there. Please also bring your makeup and some hairspray to touch up when we get there. I don't yet know what time we will be performing so I will send a little bit more detailed e-mail hopefully tomorrow.

Great job again this weekend! Here is the video, please watch it three times before Wednesday and find three things that you did well along with three things that you could work on. Along with the picture that some of you wanted me to send to you! Keep up the great work!

Lone Peak Competition Schedule

Parents and Students,

Okay, here it is!

Call time: 12:30pm

Performance time: 2:35pm

Awards: 6:07pm

Dismissed: approx. 6:30pm

Please arrive at Lone Peak in full hair and makeup with your uniform in a garment bag. Please make sure that you have everything ready the night before and that your equipment is properly taken care of before you arrive. For example, if your end cap has broken through, we should get that fixed before! 

Parents, we got most of our spots filled for the bus rides, but we just need one more spot for Championships on Saturday at Copper Hills. It's only about a 45 minute ride there and 45 minutes back, it will also be a little bit shorter day! Thanks for all you do!

Weekly Update 2/28

Parents and Students,

Thank you so much for an amazing Family Night show! It was so fun to watch you ladies perform! We are on the home stretch of our season, so let's keep the momentum going! Here is this weeks schedule.

Mon: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

Wed: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

3:30-5:30pm AFHS North Gym

Saturday: Performance at Lone Peak

I will send the detailed schedule for Saturday in a separate email for you. Also, ALL 8th graders, please keep in mind that field auditions are coming up in April. I tried to invite either you or your parents on Facebook to the event, but if I missed you, they are on April 14th and 21st from 4-7pm at American Fork High School. Please keep in mind, that if you plan on doing any winter season in the future, you have to do field show. It's super fun anyway! I'll see you all there!

Family Night Schedule

Parents and Students, 

I'm so sorry that this email is long over due. For family night on Friday, I have already told the students pretty much everything that we will be doing, but it is always good to have a written copy for reference. So, here is the schedule for Friday.

Call time- 5:45 pm at American Fork High School

You need to be in full hair and makeup with your uniform completely on. Please make sure to iron it before you put it on!

Performance time: 7pm. 

We need everyone to be in there seats by 7:00. Preferably 10 minutes prior so that we can start right at 7. We anticipate this to be approx. one hour long. 

Tickets are $2 at the door for all friends and family. 

I don't yet know where you will meet me. For right now, let's just meet in the band room and we will find a practice area from there. I will keep you updated if anything changes.

Thank you for your patience!

Weekly Update 2/21

Parents and Students,

Holy cow congratulations!! I am so proud of everyone and all of your hard work. As we progress through the rest of the season, we need to make sure we continue to work hard and continue to progress. 

Don't forget that this week is family show. I'll email out the details tomorrow.

Here's this week's schedule:

Mon: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym
Wed: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym
3:30-5:30pm AFHS North Gym
Fri: Family Night 

Parents, please keep in mind that I need a parent to ride with us to Northridge and Copper Hills. You don't have to do both, but we have to have a parent on board with us. Please let me know if you are available!

Saturday at American Fork High School

Parents and Students,

I finally received the Saturday schedule! Woohoo! So, here is our schedule.

Call Time @ AFHS- 11:45am 

Performance Time- 1:44pm

Excused- Approx. 5:45pm

When you show up on Saturday I need you in full hair and makeup with your uniform in your garment bag. Please do not have it on, I don't want it to get wrinkly from you sitting on it in the car. We will meet in the Band Room at American Fork High School and then as a team, we will go drop our stuff off in the Midi lab and proceed from there. 

Friendly reminder that your hair needs to be pulled away from your face. Even if its neatly curled or straightened. I don't want it to get in your way while you are spinning.

After we perform, we will head back to the midi lab and change, talk about the show and then as a team we will head back to the stands to watch. I may need to help run a few things at the show, I'm not sure yet, and may need parents to sit with the team again so if you are interested or available, please let me know!

I have been receiving a few emails and messages regarding Saturday and wanting students to leave early. For future reference, as a student you have to stay through awards. I know things come up and we can discuss those circumstances as they arise, but I would like you to keep your schedule as open as possible on competition days. It is crucial that we support other teams in the circuit, whether they are in our division or not. 

Last item of business. We need one parent to ride to and from our Northridge Competition on March 12th as well as Championships on March 25-26th. We will be sharing the bus with our Cadet guard so space will be comfortable. It will probably just be enough room for one parent from our guard and one parent from the Cadet guard. Thank you thank you in advance!

Update 2/14

Parents and Students,

Happy Valentines and a big hey from Florida! This week we are cleaning a lot, so please be prepared Wednesday morning and afternoon with your brains on. We also have a show on Saturday at American Fork High School which makes this Wednesday afternoon mandatory. We have been having some sickness go around in the guard, so get your vitamins and your rest! A healthy guard is a happy guard! 

So, here is the schedule!

Mon No rehearsal! Yay!

Wed 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

3:30-5:30pm AFHS North Gym

Sat SHOW at AFHS.

I don't yet know the call time for Saturday. The scheduler for shows is out of town and should have it prepared in the next day or two. I do know that we are the second in our division to perform and the competition starts at 1pm so I'm guessing around 1:45 at the latest. I will ask that everyone stays through awards for our division but would encourage you to stay through the end of the night to watch and support our JV and Varsity guard, as well as Wasatch Independent. It's a home show so if you want, after awards you can come and go as you please. It's also pretty fun to watch the more technically advanced guards! 

Let me know if you have any other questions! Cell service is sometimes spotty out here, so I will do my best to respond in a timely manner! I will be back in town tomorrow evening, so we should be good after that! Thank you for your support!

Weekly Update 2/7

Parents and Students,

Thank you for a great week last week! I feel like we made some great progress in the show on Wednesday afternoon. Please make sure that you are doing mental runs before tomorrows rehearsal. We don't have much time to reteach what we changed. Other than that, nothing new this week schedule wise! We don't have another competition until our home performance on the 20th!

Mon 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

Wed 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

3:30-5:30pm AFHS North Gym

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know! Thanks!

Feb 1 Weekly Update

Parents and Students,

I apologize for how long this took to get out. Thankfully this week is pretty low key.

Wed: 6-7:45 am

3:30-5:30 pm

Wednesday afternoon we are having Darilyn come back in to take a look at a few minor things. We are so excited to have this show continue to progress! 

I am so proud of you and the way you conducted yourself on Saturday. I huge congratulations and thank you to everyone that has helped us and to all of our parents for their support! I am continually amazed at the support that we have! We are not going to Bear River this weekend so we have three weeks to clean the show before our home performance at American Fork High School! 

As always, please feel free to ask me any questions!

Makeup and Taping

Parents and Students,

I have had quite a few emails with questions and figured that this would be the easiest way to answer them. If you already figured out the make up and flag taping, then you can ignore this email :) For those who are particularly lost, keep on reading!

For the makeup,

The color pallet that I want you to use if Revlon 555 Moonlit. If you cannot find that exact one, I have attached a picture of the pallet for your reference to find something of the same color. I have also attached what I basically want the eye shadow to look like on your eye.

1. Apply liquid and powder foundation to your whole face and BRIGHT pink blush to your cheeks. I would also suggest placing some liquid foundation on your eye lid for a base/primer.

2. The white eye shadow needs to go right under your eye brow and have it go to the crease of your eye. 

2. The lightest shade of brown needs to go from your lash line to where the white eye shadow stops.

3. The next darkest shade of brown needs to go along the outer crease of your eye.

4. The darkest shade needs to stay near your lash line.

5. After you have applied everything, line your eyes with black eye liner. A nice thin line all the way around, and then black mascara. 

If you have questions about what is happening with your makeup, please please contact me or if you know someone who has done AF guard before, ask them for help with parade makeup. They will know how to do it. I will also bring each of your your own lipstick on Saturday. 

For the flag, you have already taped your flag on but you could probably add more tape (semi gloss please) to the tab and tip of your flag. It cannot come off during the performance. Once your silk is on, I would suggest covering your end caps first and then wrap the pole. You need to wrap the whole pole with black tape. I cannot see any white whatsoever. This will add some weight to your pole, but you'll be okay, I promise. Students, don't make anyone else tape your flag. You are more than capable.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. See you Saturday!

Saturday's Schedule

I finally received the schedule for Saturday! Here it is!

Call time: 12:45

Performance Time: 2:14

Awards: 5:57 concluding around 6:30

Please arrive in full hair and make up, and bring your uniform, ironed and in a garment bag. This is a friendly reminder that you cannot eat in uniform. You may wear something over your uniform, but it must be completely covered. Your uniform (including the shirt and biker shorts) is like your prom dress. Treat it with care.

A little note on performance etiquette. If a group is performing please be respectful. Nothing is more frustrating as a performer than when a team or group of people are chattering while you are performing or not paying attention to what you are doing. Please do your best to be quiet, refrain from using your phone during a performance, and only enter and exit in between performances. 

Parents that are coming to watch, the entrance and payment for tickets is outside. It will be covered, but it tends to get a bit windy out there. It costs $5 for adults, $4 for children and students with an activity card, and $20 for a family pass of 5 people.

Can't wait for our first competition! See you tomorrow morning!

Weekly Update 1/24

Parents and students,

Here is our weekly schedule!

Mon 6-7:45am AFJH
Wed 6-7:45am AFJH
3:30-5:30pm AFHS
Sat Show at Westlake HS

I don't yet know what our call time will be on Saturday. I only know that we are the first in our class to perform. After we perform, everyone needs to stay through to awards and support the others teams that are performing. After our awards, you are more than welcome to stay or to leave.

Please don't forget to come to rehearsal in the morning with your uniform on. I would like to have a dress rehearsal in them before Saturday. The four that didn't have a uniform on Wednesday, we don't yet have the fabric. But you will have the dresses in plenty of time before Saturday. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! See you tomorrow!

Weekly Update 1/18

Parents and Students,

Sorry I didn't get this email out yesterday It's been a crazy weekend! This week is pretty relaxed. 

Wed 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

3:30-5:30 AFHS North Gym

Still plan on having your white, form fitting, cap sleeve shirt and black biker shorts by Wednesday afternoon. The dresses should be done by then. If not, we will try them on next Wednesday before our competition. Please do not forget to keep all receipts and leave all tags and stickers on! 

See you Wednesday!

Update 1/10 and Performance Schedule

Parents and Students,

This is going to be a bit of a long email. Hang tight! So, this weeks schedule is all the same!

Mon 6-7:30 am AFJH New Gym

Wed 6-7:30 am AFJH New Gym

3:30-5:30 pm AFHS North Gym

Sat 7:15 am Lehi High School

Okay, Saturday. Please arrive in full hair and make-up. We do not have time to do it at the school. So, if you need help, phone a friend. We perform at 8:47. I would like to stretch as a team and make sure everything looks okay so please be there by 7:15. I will provide where to meet in the next couple of days. For eval, please be wearing all black. You can wear leggings or basketball shorts, it doesn't really matter. I would like it to be solid black, no big logos and try not to have too many other colors on your bottoms. If you only have a logo black shirt, you may turn it inside out so you don't have to purchase another one.

Something new for eval this year is we are allowing spectators to watch! All of our teams are performing right close to each other starting with Wasatch Independent at 8:15. So as parents, if you would like to watch, you may. It costs $3 at the door and your students already have a free pass to sit along the back sideline. If you would like them to sit with you, they may, but you have to purchase a ticket for them to sit up front.

For make-up, please wear liquid and powder foundation with a bright pink blush. I would like black eye liner​​ around your whole eye with black mascara. You may wear lipstick but it needs to be a similar shade to your natural lip color or a clear lip gloss. 

Your hair needs to be pulled back out of your face. I would prefer it to be a tight bun at the nape of your neck. If your hair is too short for a bun, it may be in a low ponytail, and if your hair is still too short for that, we just need your hair out of your face. I would try to twist your hair back and pin it tight. Use lots and lots of hairspray, I cannot see any fly aways. The students have asked for pictures, so I have attached those as well.

We are hoping to have uniforms here soon and I would like you to start looking for a few items. I would like everyone to be wearing a white, form fitting, cap sleeve shirt. These are available for purchase at DownEast, Sexy Modest Boutique, Costco even has a two pack of one black and one white cap sleeve shirt for a pretty good deal. I would also like the girls to be wearing black, form fitting bottoms. Spankies are okay, but I would prefer them to be a little bit longer. Similar to biker shorts. So, I would be on the look out for these items. We don't need them by Saturday but I am hoping to have a dress rehearsal in the next week and a half so have them purchased by January 20th. As you purchase these items, please KEEP all receipts and leave all tags on. I want to make sure this all looks okay before we make it official.

Whew! You made it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! See you tomorrow!

Weekly Update 1/3

Parents and Students,

Thank you, thank you for an AMAZING camp this week! We got our entire show on the floor and have the majority of it choreographed. I apologize for not getting the video out from Wednesday faster. It's been a pretty crazy break for Erin and I! So, here is the updated video. Girls, please try to watch it before rehearsal tomorrow just to refresh your brain. 

Here is this weeks schedule:

Monday: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

Wednesday: 6-7:45am AFJH New Gym

and 3:30-5:30pm AFHS North Gym

Please note the longer rehearsals in the mornings! I no longer have to be to work at 8 am so I will finish out rehearsal all the way to 7:45. For those students who have to make it to Mt. Ridge or other schools, you will be excused at 7:30 (no earlier) so that you aren't late for school. Thank you for your understanding and patience with these adjustments!

And on a final note, we have officially reserved the school for our Family Night. It will be on Friday, February 26th. For those who have not participated in our Family Night, it is a chance for our students to perform for their friends and family and other guards in the program. This is a night you will not want to miss!

See you tomorrow!

-Maddie