Each year, schools around the area host District Band, which is a music based competition. District Band is hosted by a variety of schools in Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 4 and is based on a rotating schedule.

This year, District Band was held at  CAJSHS and 182 students attended, coming from 23 different schools. It was held January 11-13. In past years, District Band has been held at surrounding schools such as West Branch, Curwensville, and Bellefonte, keeping to the rotating schedule.

Mr. Mandell, who is the band director here, stated that this year “Clearfield volunteered to be the facility host due to the proximity of the hotels to house the students and the fine auditorium.”

Mr. Mandell also added, “To qualify for District Band, students must audition for their director then the list is submitted for selection in a round-robin style format.” This year, 14 students from Clearfield were selected including: Katlyne Fye, Emmalee Marshall, Haeley Stott, Justin Olah, Aaron Aycock, Austin Fontenoy, Joanna Switala, Mason Yocum, Philip Rowles, Jonathan McGee, Caleb McGee, Ryan Lazauskas, Thad Butler, and Remington Shugarts.

Mr. Mandell further explained: “The next step in the competition is that the students that have completed an audition for chair placement can advance to the PMEA Region III Band Festivial.” Out of the 14 Clearfield students that qualified for District Band, 9 qualified for Region III Band. These students include: Katlyne Fye, Emmalee Marshall, Justin Olah, Aaron Aycock, Austin Fontenoy, Joanna Switala, Mason Yocum, Caleb McGee, and Remington Shugarts.