ODESSA, Texas — The Permian High School band got up early to practice for Friday night's big game.
While their performance and competition was fresh on their minds, they couldn’t ignore what their rival’s band was facing.
“We discovered and were notified that one of our fellow band members across town was not doing well and we want that young lady to go to all the rivalry games for the rest of her life, which should be forever," PHS Band Director Jeff Whitaker said. "We want her to go to all these things and so we want to support and help them out.”
Odessa High School band member Adonica Sauseda was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer.
Her bandmates intend to wear maroon ribbons during the game to honor her.
But so does the Permian High School band.
“We have gone through tragic things in this band. I lost one of my best friends my sophomore year of high school. He was truly a dear friend," PHS Senior Drum Major Larissa Garcia said. "So, for them to be experiencing something like that is really heartbreaking and saddening to me.”
The bonds that band kids share go beyond their own campus.
“Like at the end of the day we are all band kids, we are all the same," PHS Senior Band Captain Tony Jimenez said. "We all know what we go through, we all know what we experience through band, and we all do the same thing.”
The band believes that things like school rivalries shouldn’t have a bearing on showing support for one another.
Because once classes and games end, they all go right back to living in Odessa as one community.
“Even though on the surface we have cross town rivalry... Even deep down all the kids know. Even the football team, even the band kids, all the people that are at the heart of this rivalry they know that they don’t want this to happen to anyone because we are all Odessians," PHS Senior Drum Major Sapna Yadalla said. "We don’t want any hardship to come to anyone. It doesn’t matter what school we physically go to because all our hearts are together.”