The West Middle School seventh grade band represented Ponca City Public Schools at the OSSAA band contest in Cushing on Tuesday. The band received one superior rating and two excellent ratings onstage for a composite ranking of excellent.

In sight-reading, the band secured a superior rating … the highest honor of performance defined by the OSSAA as being “outstanding in nearly every detail.”

The band’s director, Connor Pratt, said the seventh grade band was able to accomplish all of this with the help of nearly 15 sixth grade band students who stepped right in to support the group. “A special thanks goes out to Trent Davis and Jason Salazar for their help with the band program at West Middle School and to the Po-Hi band students who spent countless afternoons leading rehearsals and mentoring WMS band students after school.

The next WMS band performance will be the Middle School Band Spring Concert on May 9 at 7 p.m. in the PCPS Concert Hall.