Odessa, Part 2: Friday Night Lights

[0] Today, the second installment of our special series, documenting life inside one of the nation's first school districts to try to reopen during the pandemic.

[1] If you'd ever heard of Odessa, Texas before this, it's probably because of one story.

[2] I expect you boys to execute.

[3] Yes, sir.

[4] Expect you boys to play football.

[5] Yes, sir.

[6] Friday Night Lights was written about a high school school.

[7] football team in Odessa, Texas in the late 80s.

[8] A time when the city was reeling from a huge oil bust, when unemployment rates were soaring.

[9] And still, every Friday night, the city would gather to cheer on their winning team, the Permian Panthers.

[10] Clear eyes, full hearts.

[11] Can't lose.

[12] That's here, gentlemen.

[13] Clear eyes, full hearts.

[14] Can't lose.

[15] Let's go play some football.

[16] In the book, One Odesson tells the author, life really wouldn't be worth living if you didn't have a high school football team to support.

[17] Thur down!

[18] The town continues to be so in love with the sport that regular adults, not just fanatical parents, have been known to camp out in line waiting for tickets to the high school game.

[19] When life in Odessa is tied to the unsettling ups and downs of oil, football is steady.

[20] So perhaps it should come as no surprise that just as Texas was among the first to reopen their classrooms.

[21] Good evening and welcome to ECISD Live.

[22] My name is Scott Murie and I'm the superintendent and it's a pleasure to welcome each of you this evening.

[23] We have a pretty exciting lineup as our main topic tonight is Friday Night Lights.

[24] It was also decided that in the middle of the pandemic.

[25] And what more of an important topic could there be in West Texas right now other than Friday Night Lights?

[26] The football season would go on.

[27] From the New York Times, I'm Annie Brown.

[28] This is Odessa.

[29] With the city's COVID positivity rate in the double digits, there were obvious risks to resuming a contact sport that draws crowds in the thousands.

[30] But for the school district, district.

[31] There wasn't really a debate.

[32] We're seeing some data that is a bit disturbing.

[33] The learning is not happening in a way that it should.

[34] They had been watching as their remote students in particular grew increasingly isolated and adrift, with students missing the usual points of connection that had kept them tethered to school.

[35] The motivator is a teacher in the building, or it is the social interaction that they have in the building, or it is the extracurricular that they engage with in the building.

[36] And for some of those kids that are at risk, that doesn't exist.

[37] So even before it was clear that Texas would allow high school football to continue, the district began prepping for a season.

[38] And the superintendent was hopeful.

[39] We know statistically that students that participate in extracurriculars, whether it's athletics or the band or cheerleading, etc., they do better academically.

[40] That reopening football could help with what was becoming a crisis of motivation.

[41] in the city's already struggling schools.

[42] And so anything that we could do to positively keep our kids engaged in the learning process we're going to do.

[43] So the question was, could bringing back something so essential to the city's identity help re -engage students in school and would whatever benefits it brought outweigh the costs?

[44] Today, in part, two.

[45] The season begins in Odessa.

[46] I have a question for you.

[47] How important is football to you, Joanna?

[48] It's not important at all to me. Like the sport, it's not important to me at all.

[49] I don't understand it.

[50] The thing about the high school that Joanna Lopez goes to, the high school that we chose to follow, Odessa High, is that it's not the high school from Friday Night Lights.

[51] That's the high school across town.

[52] And it turns out that Odessa High's football team...

[53] Honestly, I'm not going to lie.

[54] O 'ICHS football, kind of they're not great.

[55] Is very bad.

[56] We never win a football game.

[57] That's right.

[58] Time for a battle over at Ratliff Stadium.

[59] Odessa High looking for its first win of the season.

[60] So we kind of just go first.

[61] the entertainment.

[62] We know we're not going to win.

[63] Odessa High back to punt, can't handle the snap, and they would be down at the second quarter.

[64] How's that for a short deal?

[65] The penalty would push back.

[66] OHS with negative 78 rushing yards of courting to the stats.

[67] And so, the football team isn't particularly uplifting for the students at Odessa High.

[68] They're running, but like the football slips.

[69] I'm like, how can that happen?

[70] You literally have it in your hands.

[71] You're beating Odessa 49 to 0.

[72] 45 to 7, 62 to 17.

[73] I was so close.

[74] I was really pulling for today.

[75] Odessa High had a halftime lead.

[76] We have a few Odessa High Broncos in our newsroom.

[77] They were so pumped.

[78] But man, friendship.

[79] And it just makes me mad.

[80] So I just don't even watch it at all.

[81] Tough loss for Odessa High right there.

[82] When you're there, does it feel like the band is kind of like, how does the band compare to the football team?

[83] Well, the football team kind of doesn't like us Because we kind of steal their attention I've seen like a lot of tweets or something like that Like I just go for the band or I just go for the drum line What Odessa High does have is a killer marching band A marching band that may or may not Upstage the football team Because we get more wins than they do We have a lot of trophies, more trophies than they do I'm bashing my own school but it's okay.

[84] When it comes to successful band programs in the basin, there's one name you can't leave out, the Odessa High Broncos, and after last night's UIL competition, they made sure you knew why.

[85] Every year, the band spends the season preparing for the big regional competition.

[86] And every year.

[87] For the last 81 years.

[88] Odessa High School, Division, one!

[89] They've gotten the highest ranking possible.

[90] Odessa High School, Division.

[91] One.

[92] No other band in Texas has that legacy, not even the Permian Panthers.

[93] At the high school with the district's lowest graduation rate, the highest drop -up.

[94] rate and the poorest performing football team.

[95] The marching band is something everyone can be proud of.

[96] And this year, it's the only reason that Joanna is showing up at Odessa High School.

[97] Remember, back in the spring of 2020, Joanna's dad lost his job when the oil industry in Odessa got slammed by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

[98] I was hearing that, like, people were, like, losing their jobs.

[99] And so I didn't think it would happen to us, but it did.

[100] Joanna had started working at a local smoothie shop to help pay for her car bills and chose to do school remotely, meaning she was calling in to classes from work.

[101] Yeah, sometimes I would forget that I would have school, so I would have to go to the bathroom and, you know, try to sign in and everything quick as possible and then rush back outside to work.

[102] Now, six weeks into the school year, Joanna is feeling overwhelmed.

[103] She decided to quit her job.

[104] But like so many remote students at OHS, she's still falling behind on assignments at school.

[105] And yet, every morning, Joanna gets up early.

[106] Please have your music out.

[107] I know you're still learning.

[108] And drives to Odessa High School in time for an 8 .30 a .m. practice.

[109] Where are we going?

[110] And it's Monday morning.

[111] Where are we going?

[112] She meets the band on a parking lot on the southwest corner of campus, with football yard lines painted over the parking spots, because while Joanna chose to be remote for everything else...

[113] Yeah, online school is very, very stressful.

[114] But I love band so much.

[115] She couldn't imagine not returning for band.

[116] It's the only consistent time she sees her friends.

[117] You got to let that football team know you're out here just like they are.

[118] And it's the only time she interacts in a meaningful way with a teacher in person.

[119] Have them safe to each other.

[120] God bless, I've missed our band.

[121] I don't think they're saying that right now.

[122] Well, Mr. Loggie, he's the coolest person he'll ever meet.

[123] He's not scared of it anymore.

[124] Good for you, sweetheart.

[125] He's really funny.

[126] He jokes around the lot.

[127] Thomas knows where it's at.

[128] So he's kind of made an impact on everybody, especially on me. Hi, how are you?

[129] Hey, good.

[130] We're doing good.

[131] Awesome.

[132] Sorry about my hair.

[133] I need a haircut, ladies.

[134] You sort of have like a foahawk thing going on.

[135] Yeah, it looks better when it's cut right, yeah.

[136] Mr. O 'Laggy, or Jimmy, has been teaching on the band for the last 25 years.

[137] He runs the part of the team that's sort of like the beating heart of any marching band.

[138] Like, you got snows going, and the bass around.

[139] The drum line.

[140] You know, these guys, boy, they put that drum on and they think they're God's gift to this earth.

[141] Unlike other teachers this year, who are struggling to get to know their students over Google Hangouts with Pashi Connections, Jimmy has known his drumline for years.

[142] Thomas Chavez.

[143] Thomas Chavez.

[144] And I'm known for doing stupid stuff.

[145] This kid is my clown.

[146] Often, he's been helping them get ready for the drumline since middle school.

[147] My name's Zachary.

[148] Zachary Boo is my senior.

[149] I'm known for being the one that's always messing around.

[150] When he speaks, he speaks so darn loud.

[151] Yeah, I know, I heard him.

[152] So we're always going, Zach, why are you yelling, man?

[153] Why are you yelling?

[154] Oh, I'm sorry.

[155] I didn't know.

[156] Zach, any idea where Brawley was at?

[157] He knows their families and their backstories.

[158] John Alex is a very soft -spoken, very quiet young man. I'm known as the shy guy in the band, basically.

[159] Their vulnerabilities and what they need to get better.

[160] When he plays, he looks down a lot.

[161] So I'm always on him to get his head up, to look out at the crowd and so forth.

[162] We were all excited a couple years ago when he finally got a girlfriend.

[163] We're like, oh my gosh, yay, good for you.

[164] Hopefully that'll open you up and get you talking more and so forth.

[165] I'm a man, a few words.

[166] Jimmy sees band as a way to show kids what they're capable of, even when the rest of life is hard.

[167] I want them to learn how to work hard and continue striving, pushing themselves so that they could have a better life than what maybe they have now.

[168] And his students can feel it.

[169] This year, while half of the students at Odessa High School chose not to come back in person, and nearly a third of the band took the season off, every single member of the drumline decided to return to the band in person.

[170] I just, I really enjoy the family that we have made here.

[171] Like, we spend a lot of time together, and we're, like, mostly everyone's your family.

[172] You're a club.

[173] It's great.

[174] It's time for go home, man. I'm tired of seeing these kids.

[175] These were the kinds of connections the district was hoping to maintain when it brought back extracurriculars.

[176] We met with our school, and our administrators were like, look, can you figure out something to do so that their kids are still participating?

[177] and also have a little something to present at a football game.

[178] But the plan they came up with was a shell of a typical season.

[179] There would be no regional competition to look forward to.

[180] No Division won trophy to claim.

[181] All that was left were the halftime performances at the football games.

[182] And as a COVID precaution, it was decided that the band would only play at the home games.

[183] So that's when we knew, okay, looking at our schedule, wow, we only have four home games.

[184] games.

[185] Why, why is that worth the risk?

[186] Like with only four games to, to prepare for and to play at, why is it worth having the marching band at all?

[187] Well, we still have a job to do.

[188] There's a lot of kids here who really love this.

[189] Some of them really need this.

[190] We knew we had to keep them involved.

[191] And we wanted to plan something to work towards I mean, some of these kids, this is all they have.

[192] So I've never had friends growing up.

[193] Like girls were mean to me in elementary.

[194] Everybody had their own groups.

[195] And I was just kind of by myself.

[196] When Joanna was 13 or 14, she would ride along with her older brother on that same early morning drive she now takes to that same parking lot on the southwest corner of campus with the yard lines painted over parking spots.

[197] My brother wasn't banned and so I would go to the rehearsals in the mornings because I didn't have a ride because my parents would have to go to work and so he would take me with him and it would be like seven in the morning and I was still half asleep sitting outside and just watching them, you know, goof a around and just have a good time.

[198] And I guess just like the whole environment was just, that's, I just wanted to be in that type of environment, like, where your friends are basically your family.

[199] And that's what I kind of saw.

[200] So when she got to OHS as a freshman and she was determined to be on the drum line, it didn't actually have that much to do with the music.

[201] I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this because I don't know if a lot is going to hear this, but I don't really know how to read music.

[202] I kind of just, like, look at the music and I have an idea.

[203] And then once I, like, start playing it, I kind of just get, like, a feeling on how it's supposed to sound like.

[204] Which is maybe why her audition for the bass drum didn't go as she hoped.

[205] I remember hitting some notes, but most of the notes, I kind of miss. And so that's when I was like, I blew it, so I'm not going to make it.

[206] So that's when I miss even more notes and, yeah.

[207] I remember, yeah, she didn't make it, so she was very concerned and disappointed.

[208] You know, she wanted to be on one of those drum positions.

[209] But there was one position on the drum line that year that didn't require auditioning, the symbols.

[210] And Jimmy encouraged Joanna to go for it.

[211] Well, I wanted to cry because I was, like, embarrassed.

[212] You know, I thought it was like a bad instrument.

[213] Like, you know, it's kind of embarrassing to be in symbols.

[214] But he nudged her towards thinking about it differently.

[215] I left my office open, I said, all right, here's my computer, scan all these YouTube videos, find different symbol lines, see what you like, see what you see.

[216] I said, then let's learn those visuals, you know, let's borrow from these groups.

[217] I never thought, like, you can, like, flip them and do all these crazy tricks with them.

[218] Sure enough, they had a list of different videos that they saw that they enjoyed, and so they were showing me. I said, okay, so did you understand what they're doing?

[219] Well, kind of.

[220] I believe that move is called this.

[221] Let's look this up.

[222] The start of this visual will have you initiate movement from your right shoulder and elbow just as if you're going to move.

[223] And over time, Joanna totally embraced it.

[224] It's all in the wrists.

[225] And so you kind of usually hit yourself so you pinch yourself and so you get a lot of bruises, but it's perfect.

[226] They became the flash and the color of the drumline.

[227] I just fell in love with symbols.

[228] And she found her spot on the band.

[229] My first year in drumline, when I was like our first drumline get together, I guess I had like the group chat on mute because it would get pretty annoying.

[230] Like they'd start blowing up.

[231] And so I got like a private message from Mario.

[232] And he was just texting me like, hey, are you coming to the party?

[233] Like we're all going and you're not answering.

[234] So we're just all wondering if you're going.

[235] So that kind of made me like, you know.

[236] it felt great to like finally feel like people actually want me there so so the next year it was time for auditions and i said joanna what are you going to try out on she says i want to stick on symbols i want to stay on symbols i'm like okay so that in turn has become you know this is the third year now it's what you know they've been doing so guess what joanna you just made something that's going to become tradition for us.

[237] So it taught me a lot, not just like about music and band, just like about life.

[238] And a lot he's like been really good about that.

[239] He's giving me like a lot of life lessons and yeah.

[240] What do you think he taught you?

[241] Um, he taught me about self -worth.

[242] Is that how you say it?

[243] Yeah.

[244] Yeah.

[245] I've thought a lot about this version of Joanna that Jimmy described.

[246] who, after not making her audition, reimagined a role for herself and carved out a whole new space on the band.

[247] In the conversations I'd been having with her this year, I didn't really recognize that person.

[248] It was the end of September, just a week before their first game of the season, and they had only been practicing for a couple of weeks.

[249] But this did not sound like an award -winning band.

[250] I can't believe that you can't hear and play.

[251] The freshman had no idea what they were doing.

[252] The trumpets were dragging, the drumline was rushing.

[253] I'm very nervous.

[254] Yeah.

[255] I think we're all stressing.

[256] Indeed, that whole week leading up to the first game, Jimmy seems very stressed.

[257] You know why you missed it?

[258] Because you were out of step.

[259] I told you.

[260] I don't know how to tell you how much that you need to get this learned.

[261] I'm yelling at him because I...

[262] I know that they're not giving me their awe, that they're not trying their best, that they're just going through the motions.

[263] That's what I'm focusing on.

[264] If they perform well, it's going to make them feel better.

[265] And when we're together, we only have a certain amount of time to get it there.

[266] And when they start not giving us their best, that's when I get really irritable.

[267] But the drum line still wasn't ready.

[268] So a special practice was called Just for the Drumline, the night before the first game.

[269] What's this song called?

[270] The only word playing?

[271] Oh, this my breath.

[272] Who made this song popular?

[273] No. This is from an actual song.

[274] Ever heard of a female singer named Beyonce?

[275] No. Okay, she was in a group before she was Beyonce.

[276] What was the name of that group?

[277] Destiny's Child.

[278] Joanna, say it louder.

[279] Destiny's Child.

[280] There you go.

[281] Destiny's Child.

[282] This is a practice inside the band hall.

[283] There are a little over 20 students in the room, clustered into their sections, their backpacks lining the front wall behind Jimmy.

[284] The kids are instructed to wear their masks while playing, but some forget to.

[285] Some pull them off to drink water and forget to put them back on.

[286] Jimmy throws his off briefly at one point in a fit of frustration with it.

[287] But as they start to practice, The kids fall into their rhythm together.

[288] They giggle.

[289] They flirt.

[290] You told me to say it.

[291] They talk incessantly until the very moment they have to start playing.

[292] You're not reading it.

[293] Do you have it upside down or what?

[294] You have flipped it inside out or?

[295] You're not that good.

[296] And as the night goes on, they get better.

[297] just yards away from where these students are practicing.

[298] The lights are off in the classroom of Naomi Fuentes, the college prep teacher we've been following, whose first few weeks of school have consisted of a small handful of students sitting quietly in front of her, with others signing in remotely from their bedrooms or their jobs.

[299] What's happening here?

[300] This is what she's been missing.

[301] Today went so much better.

[302] we were able to stop and actually clean now.

[303] You know, okay, let's work on this section because it's not sounding very good yet.

[304] So we got to spend time to clean certain sections versus, all right, go to the next move, go to the next movie, and it's gotten a lot better.

[305] Back at home that night after practice, Joanna is still buzzing.

[306] How do you feel about the fact that tomorrow is the first game?

[307] I'm excited.

[308] I'm ready for it.

[309] I don't want the night to end.

[310] As excited as she is for the game, she seems almost equally excited about this very particular thing that's going to happen at the game.

[311] Like there's this one tradition that we have.

[312] We actually had gummy worms, sour gummy worms, and our hats.

[313] It's a tradition where the drumline hides sour gummy worms in their costumes, and then right before their big half -time show.

[314] They each put a gummy worm in their mouths, only they're not allowed to chew it the whole time they're playing.

[315] We had to go through the whole show without eating it.

[316] And so after, like, the show, it's, like, all soggy and, like, kind of just, like, and, like, small pieces.

[317] You have to be there, I guess.

[318] And so, I'm very excited for that part.

[319] These are the kind of details we heard from so many kids when they described what they had been missing about school this year.

[320] They had almost nothing to do with.

[321] actual school.

[322] One girl got a new haircut and picked out an outfit for the first day of school, only to realize that none of her girlfriends were there to see her.

[323] One senior told us that what she really had been looking forward to senior year was going off campus for lunch, and when that was canceled due to COVID, she decided just to stay home.

[324] The things that keep kids excited about school, and once they're there, learning, were so sorely absent this year.

[325] But because the band was still on, it still offered a little of that.

[326] Okay, good luck.

[327] We can't wait to hear it.

[328] Bye.

[329] The next day, Joanna got some news.

[330] Ratliff Stadium in Odessa will be empty tonight.

[331] If you were headed out for Odessa High's game, we have some bad news.

[332] The game against Lubbock Monterey is canceled.

[333] That's after a Bronco football player, tested positive for COVID -19.

[334] Game one of four canceled due to COVID.

[335] No, actually, a lot of people might call me dramatic, but I kind of did tear up mainly because I thought about, like, we already don't have much of a marching season, like our competitions.

[336] I was just thinking of how much has, like, been taken away from us.

[337] And then, yeah, another thing.

[338] I was very excited, so.

[339] I'm so sorry about that, Joanna.

[340] Yeah, I was sad because we actually bought the gummy worms for later in the game, and so we had already bought in everything, so.

[341] When Joanna heard the news that the first football game had been canceled, and with it, their first performance, she was driving home from an interview for a new job at Best Buy.

[342] Well, at the smoothie shop, I would get paid $8 .50.

[343] And so Best Buy, they start you off at $15 an hour.

[344] So if I get, like, good hours, I would make pretty good paychecks.

[345] Her family's financial situation had improved, but not by much.

[346] My dad, he was trying to get his unemployment, but he had a lot of trouble with it.

[347] And when he did settle into a job, it paid a little more than half of what he'd been making in oil fields.

[348] So Joanna was hoping that she'd be able to manage a job at Best Buy better with school than she had at the smoothie place, but it wasn't that her grades had improved.

[349] Well, my grades aren't looking good right now.

[350] My mom got in the mail today and I got in trouble.

[351] What do you mean she got in the mail today?

[352] What did she get?

[353] One of my teachers sent out my grades.

[354] So he kind of told on me. but that's okay.

[355] Joanna told us that her plan had originally been to go to a four -year college and study psychology.

[356] The plan was always a bit of a dream.

[357] She wasn't great at school, and money had been tight before.

[358] But those things had never been more true than they were this year.

[359] And now, she was finding it difficult to even imagine.

[360] I feel like I haven't learned anything in school, and I feel like it would be hard for me to go into something that I don't really have an idea on what's going on.

[361] And so I kind of just want to have, like, an easy path and, like, study cosmetology.

[362] That's always, like, been, like, my plan B. So I feel like that's kind of turning into my plan A, you know.

[363] Over the last few months, we've checked in with Joanna's guidance counselor and the college counselor responsible for seniors.

[364] And they both agreed that social, isolation, financial stress, and a lack of motivation have left many seniors struggling to hang on and uncertain about their futures.

[365] The college counselor estimated that only about half as many students have applied to college this year, as in previous years.

[366] Well, I guess I kind of started looking at, like, the reality of how hard it is to get into, like, good colleges and how expensive it is.

[367] That's another thing.

[368] Like, I know I wouldn't be able to pay for my...

[369] college all by myself, and I would need help from my parents, and I don't want to ask that from them because they're already struggling enough.

[370] Last year, do you think that you would have thought maybe they could help me?

[371] Yes, I did think that.

[372] It was always asking a lot of marching band to make up for so many of the stresses of this year, especially a marching season whose ambitions had been shrunk down to just four games.

[373] And now, three.

[374] And then, just four days after that first game was canceled, Jimmy gave us some more news.

[375] Something had just happened at an early morning practice.

[376] Good morning, ladies.

[377] Tell us what happened.

[378] Well, we were adding some different choreography to the show, you know, just to spice it up and so forth.

[379] And we're rehearsing right now.

[380] In fact, I'm, I'm sitting here in a truck, looking at them, go through different sets with music and so forth.

[381] And, yeah, I mean, we were in the middle rehearsal.

[382] I don't know if you can hear the band playing in front of me. No, we can't here.

[383] Can you hold up your phone?

[384] Yeah, I will roll down the window a little bit.

[385] They had been in the middle of working on something when a school police car drove into their parking lot practice field.

[386] So when I turn around, I see that at the ECISB police.

[387] And she quickly grabs my attention and wades me to her car.

[388] So I said, yes, ma 'am.

[389] And she says, the nurse is trying to get a hold of you guys.

[390] Y 'all need to call the nurse.

[391] I'm like, okay.

[392] So quickly, you know, mentally you're like, all right, I think I know what this is about.

[393] And then you're like, damn it.

[394] And what he feared was correct.

[395] We had a student who tested positive for COVID in the band and was in rehearsal last week.

[396] At this point, there had been a couple of dozen positive cases among the students.

[397] and staff at the school.

[398] But as far as Jimmy knew, this was the first positive test on the band, a band of 160 kids.

[399] And then she asked me questions, do you think this person has, you know, been in close quarters or close in spacing?

[400] And I said, no, our drill rider wrote six feet or more for each kids.

[401] Every time we move, they're keeping the safe distance.

[402] Do the kids know anything about what just happened?

[403] No, they don't know anything.

[404] And so what happens next?

[405] Now we release them, you know.

[406] If they are going to school on campus today, then they go to the main building, to the band hall, put up their stuff and get ready for their second period class.

[407] And if they're going home, then they wait for their parents or whoever's picking them up to take them home.

[408] Some of these kids drive on their own.

[409] You know, now you're just crossing your fingers, hoping that it's just this one person is not a group in the band.

[410] So you don't know who exactly this band member who has tested positive has been in contact with, but still kids are going to class?

[411] I'm just wondering, like, with that in mind, why not just tell the whole band, like, do remote school for the next two weeks?

[412] For the next two weeks, yeah.

[413] Well, I mean, that's the thing.

[414] If they do remote school, then they wouldn't be able to come to rehearsal as well.

[415] So I understand your question.

[416] Yeah.

[417] But the nurse has or will contact these kids being exposed.

[418] They'll go ahead and send them home or whatever and do what they need to be doing.

[419] Thank you, Jimmy.

[420] Good luck.

[421] You're very welcome.

[422] Thank you.

[423] All right, ladies, y 'all have a safe day.

[424] All right.

[425] Bye -bye.

[426] We reached out to the nurses who said that they had followed their protocol, the protocol that they had been trained on.

[427] What we didn't know when we talked to Jimmy, was that that training consisted of a three -hour online course on contact tracing, and that there were just two nurses responsible for contact tracing for around 4 ,000 students and 300 staff at Odessa High School.

[428] But following that protocol, in this case, the nurses determined that no one else on the band had been exposed.

[429] Practices could continue, and the future games were still on.

[430] Welcome Broncos!

[431] Which is how, finally, three weeks later, on a crisp October Friday, the Odessa High Broncos marching band had their first game day.

[432] We're a pep rally every year, let's go!

[433] Now, let's hear from a Bronco band!

[434] In the morning, there was a pep rally where the band played the fight song to a mostly empty audience.

[435] The guests of honor, the football team, sat on the field.

[436] in chairs spaced six feet apart while someone sang the national anthem.

[437] The showgirls danced their routine and the football coach gave some final notes of pleading encouragement.

[438] Good morning.

[439] We just asked that you show up tonight and be loud, dress warm, let's go kick some bulldog butt.

[440] And with that, the pep rally was over and the students went about their normal.

[441] normal COVID school day.

[442] As the afternoon rolled around, band members signed out of their Google classrooms, put on their uniforms, and piled into buses to drive to Ratliff Stadium for the game.

[443] This was the same stadium Friday Night Lights was filmed in, where that night, the Odessa High Broncos would play the Midland Bulldogs.

[444] The game had started by the time the band arrived, and they made their way into the stadium and took their spot in the stands at the 20 -yard line.

[445] They set themselves up to play songs to cheer on the football team as they played.

[446] Everyone was excited when Odessa High made the first touchdown of the night.

[447] A 20 -yard run into the end zone by the quarterback.

[448] But the Bulldogs caught up quickly, and by the end of the first half, well, we're losing.

[449] It wasn't looking good.

[450] And then it was time for what the band had been preparing for, their very first marching performance at halftime.

[451] Pass the gummy worms, bro.

[452] But first, as tradition called for, don't bite it, don't chew it.

[453] Don't do anything.

[454] Keep in your mouth.

[455] They each got a gummy worm to hold in their mouth.

[456] They're really not a purpose, but like, I don't know, it's fun.

[457] Then took to the field.

[458] County looking at the proud event, the award winning, Odessa High School Bronco Marking Band.

[459] Jimmy is on the 45 -yard line, facing the band, watching as they get into position.

[460] They start moving their first movement, and we were like, okay, everybody remembered to move.

[461] Nobody stood still, thank God.

[462] So far so good.

[463] The drum line starts, you know, sounding good, okay, they're together, and the band sounded really good.

[464] They're playing nice and loud.

[465] And then the soloists start coming up and start playing and they're getting a good crowd response after each soloist.

[466] So, you know, I'm like, okay, they're doing it.

[467] They're doing what we've been working on.

[468] Seeing the drumline, you know, move to their formations and then line up in the middle of the field.

[469] I'm like, okay, here, they're about to move up forward, which means here comes the drum break.

[470] So that's when I get excited because that's my baby right there.

[471] You know, so the snare drums do their little thing and and play, and then the bass drums do their thing and play.

[472] And while that's happening, the symbols are back there doing twirls and visuals and so forth.

[473] When you're down there in front of it, right there in the middle, and it's just hitting your face, you're like, oh, this is, life is good right now.

[474] Friday night, I don't know if that's a Texan.

[475] Good job.

[476] It's great to play for people on, finally.

[477] As they left the field and headed back to their seats, Jimmy was there to meet them.

[478] They did great.

[479] It did great.

[480] So the first one is really neat.

[481] They had a great response, man. That's what we went waiting for them.

[482] So they feel good.

[483] From there, the rest of the game went as they often do.

[484] And stop.

[485] The other team scored again and again.

[486] It looks like we're going to lose this one.

[487] The Broncos lost.

[488] It's the spirit that counts.

[489] That's all that matters.

[490] And for one brief moment, life at Odessa High School felt normal.

[491] Next time on Odessa, behind that sense of normalcy, the school nurses who had been responsible for contact tracing are feeling very overwhelmed and find themselves facing the largest quarantine of the semester, which just happened to be on the band.

[492] Odessa was produced and reported by Sindhu Njana Sambundam, Saraya Shockley, and me, Annie Brown.

[493] With help from Mitch Borden and Diana Wynne, edited by Liz O 'Balen and Lisa Tobin.

[494] Engineering by Brad Fisher.

[495] Fact -checking by Ben Phelan.

[496] Original composition by Dan Powell and Marian Lazzano.

[497] Special thanks to Larissa Anderson, Elise Spiegel, Cliff Levy, Dana Goldstein, Kate Taylor, Clifford Krause, Aporva Mundavili, Ken Belson, Laura Kim, Nora Keller, and Lauren Jackson.

[498] Here's what else you need to know today.

[499] Good evening, my fellow Americans.

[500] Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about where we are.

[501] As you mark, one year since everything stopped because of this pandemic.

[502] During a televised address to the nation, President Joe Biden directed governors to make all adults eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine by May 1st.

[503] Let me be clear.

[504] That doesn't mean everyone's going to have that shot immediately, but it means you'll be able to get in line beginning May 1.

[505] Every adult will be eligible to get their shot.

[506] In the speech, delivered shortly after Biden signed the stimulus bill into law, the president said that life in the United States could return to a form of normalcy by the 4th of July.

[507] After this long, hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation, but we begin to mark our independence from this virus.

[508] It's it for the daily.

[509] I'm Michael Babaro.

[510] See you on Monday.