Meet the Captain:
Eden Gordon
Eden Gordon (she/they) is a current third-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill studying business administration within the UNC Kenan-Flager School of Business. She is also the Colorguard captain for the university’s marching band: The Marching Tar Heels. As captain, Eden has many behind-the-scenes responsibilities as well as on-the-field duties, all to help rehearsals and game days run as smoothly as possible. Some of this includes mentoring others in her section, collecting and fixing equipment, and creating unique routines to perform on game day. More recently, Eden has been arriving about an hour early to each practice to help a new member in their section with choreography and technique assistance, which is a huge part of her role as captain. Through this mentorship program, new members feel more comfortable with their game-day performance and have better opportunities to form bonds with the rest of the team.
For football games, the Colorguard team has to do a ton of preparation that Eden assists in. The team’s makeup must be pristine, including “Carolina Blue” eyeshadow and winged eyeliner, and their hair must be pulled back into a braid. They also have a black, white, and blue uniforms that everyone must wear with matching black Nike tennis shoes. Upon arrival to morning practice, the team’s equipment must be checked by Eden to ensure it’s of good quality, and this is when any last-minute repairs are made. The team then rehearses with the rest of the band until lunchtime, eats lunch in Lenoir Dining Hall, then sets up for team arrival where they will perform routines for members of the football team.
After team arrival concludes and the band finishes playing, everyone migrates to the front of Wilson Library for an interactive warm-up where members of the pre-game crowd are selected to conduct for the band. Following this, there is an interactive “throw-down” (to essentially trash talk the other team) and some stand-tunes are played to thank the fans for attending. Then, the march to Kenan Stadium begins! During this, the guard performs more unique dance routines created by both past and present captains, and members will try to welcome fans in dancing along with them. These dance routines can also be seen in the stands during the game.
Eden describes this journey through rehearsals and game-day routines as “community building” for the Colorguard team, because so much happens and they can only get through it with the help of one another. She elaborates with: “the atmosphere in guard is really friendly…we all help each other and try to learn more from each other through spinning and hanging out.” Everyone has each other’s backs when preparing for game-day, which helps the greater band by minimizing any potential problems created by the Colorguard team.
Aside from Colorguard, Eden is also the Webmaster and Historian for the Iota Lambda chapter of Tau Beta Sigma (TBS) at UNC. Tau Beta Sigma, “For Greater Bands”, is a music-related sorority that strives to support collegiate bands, like the Marching Tar Heels, through service. The members, and prospecting ones, of TBS are required to take at least one band class a year, including marching band. This is how Colorguard members, such as Eden, can join despite not playing an instrument.
As Webmaster and Historian of TBS Iota Lambda, Eden maintains the chapter’s official website, social media sites, takes photos of members and any service projects they do, plus so much more. Eden is also the alumni chair, meaning she stays in contact with TBS alumni by sending them invitations to rituals and creating monthly newsletters of current TBS events for the alumni to reflect on. This helps further the idea: “once a sister, always a sister,” and is an excellent way for Eden to apply their leadership skills from all band activities.
