Recently the McLean band won one of the most prestigious honors a high school band can be awarded.

“The Sudler Flag of Honor is generally considered the highest award that a high school band program can recieve at a national level. You have to demonstrate a long period of continued excellence and performance in every aspect of the program,” McLean Band director Chris Weise said.

The award is given by the John Philip Sousa Foundation.  According to the Foundation’s website, “All Sudler Flag of Honor Bands are automatically included in the Sousa Foundation’s Historic Roll of Honor of outstanding high school concert bands.”

McLean is one of the few schools to receive the award twice. The first award was received in 2000.

“Each director is only able to get it once during their time, and McLean is one of just a handful of schools who has received the award twice–under the the direction of the previous director and myself–so it’s a nice small group to be in,” Weise said.

Weise said he is very humbled to have received such a prominent award.

“My biggest pride in winning this award is that other people are recognizing the great things that these kids do that I get to see every single day,” Weise said. “The seniors are the first people I have to recognize, especially for something long term like this. They have been with us for four years, so they have directly contributed the most of anybody currently here. We have some senior students who are really motivating and inspiring, and students that keep me learning on a daily basis which is a very cool thing.”

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Julia McElligott

Sudler Flag Award from 2000

See http://www.mcleanband.org/competitive-history.html for more information about the awards they have won.