A familiar face among the flourishing music department at Portage High School is junior, Kevin Nicholson.
Music is very important to Nicholson as he is involved in many different bands.
“I am involved in the Marching Band, Symphonic Band, and Basketball Band,” Nicholson said. “Music is my life, it's what I excel at. Band gives me an opportunity to show people what I've learned and how I've applied it all whenever I play publicly.”
Being in band has taught Nicholson a lot about the daily challenges of life.
“Music has taught me how to handle the daily challenges in life and come up with solutions on how to make sure the challenge doesn't become a problem again,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson brings something new to the community.
“I am able to bring something to the Portage community that is somewhat lacks, live music. I also am able to aid the future PHS music students on how they can excel in music/band, which will hopefully help them bring a positive impact to Portage,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson has received the honor of playing in the DCI Drum Corps.
“Two other PHS students and I have been accepted into world class and open class DCI Drum Corps, a humongous activity in the music world that helps show that Portage citizens have talent,” Nicholson said. I will be training for about 4 weeks straight in the summer, solely learning and memorizing our show for when we go on tour and compete against other world class drum corps.
As a member of this drum corps, Nicholson will learn many things that will help him better himself as a musician.
“My summer with the Pioneer Drum and Bugle corps, the corps I will be marching tuba with, will be about 82 days in total,” said Nicholson. “It will help me as a musician to grow my musical abilities as I will be doing nothing but solely band for these 2 to 3 months. As well as teaching me how to not hit my ‘wall’, and how to handle life's challenges.”
Upon graduation Nicholson will attend college to pursue a career in music.
“I do plan to continue music after high school and beyond. I plan on getting a degree in music education,” said Nicholson. “As well as playing in a local concert band/symphonic orchestra.”