The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Winter Guard (BRWG) successfully completed their 2023-2024 season with their show entitled “Ghost Light” on April 25.

From BRWG’s successful performance at West Milford High School, an exhibition performance during which the winter guard put forth their first performance of “Ghost Light,” the team has come a long way in regards to developing and refining the quality of their annual show. 

The team’s first competitive performance took place on February 3 at the Winter Guard Hillsborough High School Competition. Here, in the Scholastic A Division, BRWG placed sixth with a score of 58.42. The head judge for this competition was Virginia Kraft and other schools that performed in the same division include Edison and West Orange High Schools. 

During the 2022-2023 season, BRWG advanced to the Scholastic A Division due to an increase in size and exemplary performance, which makes this recent season their first in this new division. Competing alongside more talented guard teams, BRWG has been able to push their limits and reach new heights, both figuratively and literally during competitive performances.

Following the Hillsborough Competition was the Winter Guard Council Rock High School Competition, where BRWG competed against schools such as Elizabeth and Hillsborough High Schools to place eighth out of 10 with a score of 62.030 under head judge Eric Kitchenman. Within just a week’s time, the team was able to improve their performance by almost 5 points, a major leap for the team.

Subsequently, BRWG performed competitively at Winter Guard International (WGI) Regionals on February 24, where they placed tenth with a score of 64.940, competing alongside Unionville and Westfield High Schools with the head judge William Chumley. Despite not being able to advance to the finals round, the consistent increase in BRWG’s scores at every competition was a win of its own.

Following the regional performance, at the Winter Guard South Brunswick High School Competition on March 2, BRWG placed eighth with a score of 68.340, alongside schools such as West Milford and Ridgewood High Schools and once again under head judge Virginia Kraft. 

Next, BRWG performed at the annual Bridgewater-Raritan Winter Guard Home Show, hosting dozens of winter guard teams from across New Jersey at the high school on March 9. This event took days of tireless planning from both sides of the coin, regarding the teams traveling to perform at Bridgewater-Raritan.

The successful nature of such a multi-faceted event was owed to many people, including Winter Guard advisor and director Mr. Nicholas Mossa, who is the director of several band and after-school ensembles at Bridgewater-Raritan; the Band Parents Association (BPA); and student volunteers in the school’s expansive band program. Due to performing at Bridgewater-Raritan, BRWG was not scored and thus performed another exhibition performance of “Ghost Light.”

Nearing the end of the season with only three more competitive performances remaining, BRWG performed at the Winter Guard Monroe Township High School Competition, where they placed seventh with a score of 76.250, with head judge Eric Kitchenman and other schools in the Scholastic A division including Brick Memorial and Arundel High Schools.

The second to last competition was the Winter Guard Somerville Competition, on April 7, where BRWG placed ninth with a score of 77.790, alongside schools such as Roslyn Varsity and Brentwood High Schools, head judge being Virginia Kraft.

Finally, BRWG performed their final installation of “Ghost Light” at MAIN Regionals on April 21 at CURE Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, placing tenth with a score of 81.130, the highest score in the 2023-2024 season.

“Ghost Light” is based on the idea of ghost lights in theatres that are always left illuminated even when all other lights are off. This continuous luminosity from this one point in often humongous theatres creates a sense of continual motivation, which is the idea behind the Winter Guard’s show for this season.

The team has been able to exemplify this continuous improvement and motivation mantra through observed improvement in their scores and improvement of their show every time they roll out their individualized floor to perform as a team.