Every year, many newcomers are drawn to St. Ambrose for one reason or another. It
could be for many reasons, such as sports or the SAU community. But for one new fighting bee, the reason is music. But he’s no student! He’s the new marching band director, Dr. Matthew Winarski.
“What really attracted me to the position and to the university was just the energy and excitement that’s surrounding the marching band. There is just a really cool energy and a really cool culture that small private institutions have that are just really fun, and having worked at several before I think really prepares me to integrate into this already really close knit culture but also take it in some different directions that will be exciting for the marching band but also the campus in general,” says Dr. Winarski.
Winarski also brings over a decade of marching band teaching experience from
Otterbein University and North Dakota State University, as well as other public schools in Minnesota and North Dakota. Despite it being his first time teaching in this state, members of the band say that he fits right in here at Iowa.
Freshman band member Carver Reiss says the following, “He’s been super helpful to me, like yesterday he literally helped me find a dot that I thought I knew that I was just seriously not in the right place.” A dot is a place on the field where a band member is assigned to march to during their performance. Each member has their own dots in order to pull off the iconic synchronized performances that are so familiar during half time at football games.
“He seems super passionate about the things that he does,” Carver continues. “He’s very passionate towards music and how this band functions as a whole. He’s also very patient, I feel like he understands that people have a lot of stuff going on, even besides just marching band. And he’s super positive about making sure that everyone is well rounded and can get a good band experience.”
While Dr. Winarski brings a lot of energy and passion in the present moment, he also has big hopes for the band going forward. “That energy and excitement that the Fighting Bee marching band has is really evident here on campus,” he says. “You just see it everywhere. I would really like to see how far outside of campus we can take that. Whether it’s in the community, whether it’s in the region at a lot of the public schools, I’d like to see that energy spread and really get our name and image and all this stuff out there.”
