By Sydney Holder Riverbend News
Lafayette High School (LHS) alumni Hannah Williams has returned to her hometown as the new band director for the 2021-22 school year. Williams kicked the year off with a great start with the Marching Hornets Band Camp and shared her excitement for the year to come.
After graduating from LHS in 2015, Williams attended the University of Florida (UF) for her Bachelor's Degree in Instrumental Performance. While at UF, Williams was active as a percussionist in many of the school's music programs, including the University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band and concert ensembles.
A life-long Gator fan and passionate musician, Williams was adamant about attending UF since she was a little girl.
"Music, in general, is something I've wanted to do my whole life," Williams shared. "It's what I grew up and wanted to do since I was in elementary school. I always dreamed of being a part of the band here at LHS, and then going over to UF and being a part of their marching band and concert band programs."
Williams credited the welcoming faculty and recommendations from friends with convincing her to attend UF.
"I have been a Gator fan my whole life and then just knowing some friends who said it was a nice place over in Gainesville to go to school, lured me to UF," Williams said. "I had met some of the professors before going over and auditioning, and they seemed like great people to work with, so I thought that would be a perfect fit for me to go work with those people that I had met."
Williams relationships with those students and professors flourished once she went on campus. She notes her studio teacher, Dr. Broadway, as one of her main mentors throughout college.
"One of my favorite professors was my studio teacher, Dr. Broadway," Williams said. "He's just somebody that's a mentor for the whole studio. He taught us a lot about percussion and music, and always gave me a lot of advice when I needed it. He was somebody that would always help me out if I needed to ask questions, so he's probably one of the people at the top of my list."
After graduating from UF in 2020, Williams came home to Mayo. She heard that the band director position was opening in the Spring, so she interviewed and received the job.
The Marching Hornets held their two-week band camp from July 19 through July 30. They have been working diligently to prepare their 2021 halftime show, Chicago.
"I'm super proud of all the kids," Williams said. "They've worked really hard the last two weeks, and I feel like I came in at a good time. I got a lot of hardworking kids, and all the new kids are putting in the work to get us where we need to be in the Fall. The halftime show sounds like it's going really well, so I think everybody will be pretty thrilled with it when we get it all put together."
Williams has high hopes for her students and the LHS band program, and she is working on starting new ensembles for her students.
"I'm hoping to get some other little ensembles going here, maybe a percussion ensemble, of course last year, they had concert band going in the fall and in the spring, so that's something I want to continue with the marching band, and then we have some jazz ensembles or something just to offer a few different ensembles for different kids music interests."
Williams would like to leave with a thank you to the LHS Band Boosters and supporters for helping the band purchase three mallet percussion instruments, a marimba, vibraphone and xylophone. The students now have the opportunity to learn these new instruments that the school has not had in the past.