Sheridan graduate to tour with national drum corps

Sheridan High School graduate Victoria Burnett will perform with The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps this summer. She will play the mellophone as the corps travels and competes in events throughout the United States, including in 
Bentonville and Little Rock.
Sheridan High School graduate Victoria Burnett will perform with The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps this summer. She will play the mellophone as the corps travels and competes in events throughout the United States, including in Bentonville and Little Rock.

SHERIDAN — Victoria Burnett greeted recent visitors to Sheridan High School in a most unusual manner — she came riding down the hall on her unicycle.

“I learned to ride the unicycle when I was a sophomore,” said Burnett, who graduated from the local high school on Friday.

“I had a friend who rode one,” she said. “I thought it was an extremely cool thing to do. She taught me.”

Since then, Burnett has perfected her riding skills and now can even play a musical instrument while riding her unicycle.

“I just do it for fun,” she said with a smile.

Burnett plays the French horn, as well as the mellophone, which is similar to a French horn and is used in marching bands and drum and bugle corps.

She will be playing the mellophone with The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps this summer. The Academy is a World Class (formerly Division 1) competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Tempe, Arizona. The corps, which is sponsored by the Arizona Academy of the Performing Arts, is a member of Drum Corps International.

Burnett, the 18-year-old daughter of John and Nicole Burnett of Hensley, was scheduled to leave Saturday for Arizona. Once there, she will begin a vigorous training program, learn an entire marching show and leave soon thereafter for a summer tour across the United States, culminating on Aug. 13.

On Aug. 15, she is scheduled to leave for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she plans to major in music education and minor in journalism.

“I flew to Arizona in December [2015] to audition with The Academy,” she said. “I marched and played the audition material for the staff and got a callback saying that they wanted me to film assignments and send them in to show I had been working and practicing.

“In March, I flew back to Arizona, and I got offered a contract to go on tour with them. I’m the only person in the corps of 150 that is from Arkansas. We’ll be performing in 16 states with almost 30 performances.

“This is something I have worked incredibly hard to achieve, and the journey is only beginning.”

The Academy will perform at two sites in Arkansas — at 7 p.m. July 19 at the Bentonville Tiger Athletic Complex in Bentonville, and at 7 p.m. July 27 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Burnett has played piano since she was 7.

“I saw my aunt and grandmother playing, and I wanted to, also,” Burnett said. She started band in the Sheridan School District when she was in the sixth grade. She first played trumpet, then switched to the French horn.

The honors have come Burnett’s way since then. She was named Outstanding Brass Player in sixth grade; named to the All-Region Concert Band in seventh grade; named to the All-Region Symphonic Band in grades 10 through 12, earning first chair in her senior year; and named to the All-Region Jazz Band, playing the piano, in grades 10 through 12.

Burnett also received the Quincy Jones Musicianship Award in ninth grade, was drum major for the Sheridan High School Band in 11th grade and received the Drum Major Award. She was the drill instructor in 12th grade, as well as the French horn section leader. She was a member of the Jazzin’ Jackets from 10th through 12th grades, primarily as a piano player. And she was a member of the Horn Club and performed at the Arkansas Tech University Horn Night in Russellville.

During the May 10 Sheridan High School honors assembly, Burnett was recognized as the recipient of a University of Arkansas Music Education Honors College Award of $16,000, and a music scholarship of $20,000. She also received the Beta Sigma Phi Peggy Allen Memorial Scholarship of $600 and the PEO Scholarship of $600.

During her senior year at Sheridan High School, Burnett was a member of the Student Council as the senior-class representative; a member of Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) and served as reporter; and a member of the National Honor Society. She was a distinguished high-honor graduate at this year’s graduation ceremony.

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