Everybody’s Got a Story Band Edition: East Peoria Raiders

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — East Peoria Band Director Adam Schneblin is exactly where he’s supposed to be. 29 years as an educator — 20 of them include leading the Raiders Marching Band.

“I think every year surprises me. The students surprise me each year and I love teaching and working with them. I’m very happy doing this and I can’t see myself doing anything else,” Scheblin said.

His students love the program, but some were upfront with us about their initial motivations for joining the marching band.

“My parents actually made me, but I’m beyond thankful that they made me because that’s how I made all my friends,” senior trumpet player Caleb Williams said.

“I still wanted to go to Disney World my freshmen year, which was the whole reason I did color guard, because they also go to go and that first year, I got hooked on color guard and the community it brought me,” senior member of the color guard Cassidy Renken said.

Fast forward to their senior year — Renken and Williams have been molded into leaders by Schneblin — in a year where he has a younger group.

“I love seeing all of the moving parts and all of the moving pieces and all the students going in all sorts of directions. It’s organized chaos and I love it. I’m fortunate to have students who are great people, and we pride ourselves on leadership and the lessons that go beyond music,” Scheblin said.

We’re now at the point where seniors are counting down the days until their high school career is over.

“It really sunk in for me two years ago actually. That’s how much I was thinking about this, because my sophomore year is when I started to make all of these friends. Now I’m a senior, I’m like wow I’m actually leaving and all of the friends that I have made,” Williams said.

“I’m the only senior, so they won’t let me forget that I’m leaving soon, and they’ve made me cry a lot. They’re like two more performances left and I start balling because they know how much I love each and every one of them and how much I’ve grown with them,” Renken said.

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