Color Guard 

Color Guards can be found in most American colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and independent  drum corps. They are typically made up of girls but may  include boys as well. They use a variety of equipment, including flags, rifles, and sabres, along with dance, to enhance the music of the marching band show. Usually, marching bands and color guards perform during football games at halftime. During marching band competitions, the guard adds to the overall score of the band and is also judged in an auxiliary category.

Winter Guard 

Winter Guard is similar to outdoor color guard, except the performances are indoors on gymnasium floors through the winter season. The traditional marching band music heard during fall season is replaced with a recording of various musical genres. A common theme in many shows is loss or something that conveys great emotion. The gymnasium floor typically is covered by an individually designed floor mat that generally reflects the show being performed on it. Occasionally the floor only acts as a backdrop so that the audience is drawn towards what the members are doing. The members may perform barefoot, but wearing jazz shoes or modern dance shoes is also common. There are several winter guard circuits for participating in competitions during indoor season including TIA (Tournament Indoor Association), MAIN (Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network), AIA (Atlantic Indoor Association), WGI (Winter Guard International), and many more. 

Meet Our Guard Technicians! 

Mo is the head color guard instructor here at Sandia! She graduated from Sandia in 2018 after participating in marching band and winter guard for four years; two of those years were spent as captain. Mo is excited to spend the year providing students with a creative outlet and space to freely express themselves. As always, her goal is to have fun and put on a crowd-pleasing show. 

This will be Mo’s 6th year teaching color guard. Outside of Sandia’s program, she also teaches at V. Sue Cleveland High school. Mo likes to spend her free time hanging out with her mom and dogs, listening to Taylor Swift, dancing, and hiking or rock climbing. She is overjoyed to be spending another year working with the students and staff at Sandia.

Mo Donnelly 

Head Guard Technician

Bella was born and raised in Colorado, and moved to ABQ in 2012. She is a Sandia High School alumni. She was a part of the Sandia Band program for all four years, being captain for her junior and senior year and color guard liaison her sophomore year. She is currently attending CNM, full time, studying teacher education with a concentration in secondary education. This is Bella’s first year teaching as a color guard technician.

Bella Sandoval 

Guard Technician