Fossil Ridge High School’s very own Byron Anderson made the official commitment to join the baton twirling program at Arizona State University (ASU) this spring.
Anderson’s commitment came after a competitive audition process, years of involvement in baton twirling, and lots of recognition at competitions. The coaches initially incited him to attend a football game and observe the program in action.
“And so she reached out to me through one of the other coaches there, and invited me to go to an ASU football game,” Anderson said. “So I could get the experience of what baton practice there was like… and then just a game day experience.”
After visiting the campus, Anderson applied and was later invited to audition. The process looked like performing multiple routines as well as an interview with coaches and the band director.
“And so a few months ago, I actually ended up going to the auditions there,” Anderson said. “You had to prepare a few different routines and do an interview with the band director and the coaches there. But after doing those, it was a pretty quick process where they got back to me within the week, and I decided to officially commit.”
The program is highly selective, with only a few positions available each year.
“Yeah, there’s four total positions there, and so sometimes they fill all four, sometimes they don’t. There were only two this last year,” Anderson said.
Anderson said that ASU stood out both academically and athletically to him after visiting the campus.
“I was on the fence before going to visit the college, but I think getting there and walking around the campus really helped push me in that direction of wanting to go to ASU,” Anderson said.
Fossil’s Athletic Director Dave Walck says his facility stands out both physically and technically.
“He’s impressive,” Walck said. “The proprioception [how your body moves], and how you can time and do all this stuff at the same time, it’s impressive.”
Fossil junior and a friend of Anderson Grace Campbell added, “I think he’s a really committed athlete in anything that he does and he has worked really hard to make sure he is prepared.”