Palm Desert Charter Middle School is set to make history as first to compete against High-School-Age Competition at the Color Guard World Championships in Dayton, OH.

Palm Desert – The Palm Desert Charter Middle School (PDCMS) Color Guard team is making history on April 7, 2022! Directed by the talented, Jose Pena, the PDCMS Varsity Color Guard team has qualified to compete in the 2022 Winter Guard International (WGI) Color Guard World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. This will mark the first time in WGI history that a Middle School will compete in the World Championships, competing against High Schools around the Country. The date of the WGI World Championships is April 7 – April 10, 2022 in Dayton, Ohio.

Two years ago, just prior to the Covid-19 shut down, the PDCMS Varsity team made history. At that time, the team was the only middle school in history to compete in a Winter Guard International (WGI) Regional competition, as they defeated 42 High Schools and won 2nd place!

The 2022 PDCMS Varsity Team is picking up where the 2020 team left off; recently competing in the San Diego WGI Regional Competition on March 5, 2022. PDCMS won 1st place at the San Diego Regional with a score of 84.49, beating 24 High Schools from California, Nevada and Utah by more than 3 points! Following their Regional win, PDCMS is currently ranked #13 in the Country in the Scholastic A Division, ranked #1 in the State of California and is the only Middle School competing against all High Schools.

The PDCMS Color Guard Varsity Team is comprised of 20 students from both 7th and 8th grade. The Color Guard program receives no funding from the school and all funds raised for the program are through fundraisers. Their goal is to raise $20,000 by March 31, 2022 to help support the 20 student athletes travel expenses for the World Championships in Dayton, Ohio on April 7, 2022.

PDCMS Color Guard team, family and friends has setup up a “GO FUND ME” page to help raise the $20,000 for the students to attend the World Color Guard Championships. The Go Fund Me link is: https://gofund.me/1f5d1fce. Please contact Joe Gill (Vice President of Landmark Golf) at (760) 485-8269 for all donation information and “Go Fund Me” information.

ABOUT WINTER GUARD INTERNATIONAL (WGI)

WGI Sport of the Arts is the world’s premier organization producing indoor color guard, percussion, and winds competitions. As a non-profit youth organization, WGI also serves as the governing body for the indoor color guard, percussion, and winds activities. It is called the Sport of the Arts because it brings music to life through performance in a competitive format. Even with over 40 years of history, the sport continues to evolve and grow. There were more than 33,000 participants at the regional level, and more than 16,000 participants at the Sport of the Arts World Championships this past April.

WGI was founded in 1977 to draw together the growing winter guard activity, standardize rules, and provide leadership and guidance. Now there is an international organization that offers:

  • standardized judging criteria within the activity
  • improved communication
  • cooperation of local circuit organizations
  • an Educational Division offering clinics, and both printed and video materials regarding the color guard and indoor percussion activities
  • a network of Regional contests in the U.S., Canada, and Europe culminating in an annual International Championship in April

WGI Sport of the Arts is governed by a Board of Directors composed of representatives from the top color guards, percussion and winds ensembles in the world, and “At Large” positions for individuals who bring their professional experiences to share with WGI.

WINTER GUARD

Winter guard is the sport of indoor color guard. Modern color guard is a combination of the use of flags, sabers, mock rifles, and other equipment, as well as dance and other interpretive movement. Color guards can be found in, high schools, middle schools, some universities, and also some independent organizations some of which are related to drum corps.

COMPETITION CLASSIFICATIONS

All WGI contests provide two divisions of competition:

  • Scholastic – units whose membership comes from the SAME High School or a school that feeds to that particular High School.
  • Independent – units whose members are not necessarily associated with a particular school. The units are then further divided into classes:
    • A Class – Beginning programs and performers
    • Open Class – The intermediate developmental level of performers
    • World Class – The most advanced programs and performers

Image Sources

  • PDCMS Color Guard Team: DSUSD