After leading the Christian County Colonel Marching Band to its first-ever state championship this year, Anthony Darnall was officially named the Band Director for the new Christian County High School Tiger Band.
Currently, Darnall serves as the lead band director at Christian County High School and as the director of Fine Arts for the district. And on Friday morning, new Christian County High School Principal Ken Carver was happy to announce that Darnall will lead the band program when the two high schools combine next year.
Carver praised Darnall for not just the state championship, but also how he’s led the program for the past 11 years, tripling student enrollment and earning Distinguished ratings at multiple assessment events.
His students have earned numerous honors, including All-State and Governor’s School for the Arts selections, and he has been recognized as the KMEA Third District High School Teacher of the Year and Phi Beta Mu Outstanding Young Band Director for Kentucky.
Darnall called this appointment an incredible honor, saying he intends do his best to unite the two traditions of musical excellence that both high schools have, and he’s eager to bring these students and staff together and see what they can do.
He thinks the two programs will merge together easily, as they are already combined in several ways, and he’s hoping to have nearly 200 students that first season—maybe even more than that. Darnall says with a state championship for CCHS and a third-place overall finish for Hopkinsville High School, he has high hopes for the competitive program.
The marching band will become a 5-A band next year. As for the alma-mater songs, including the fight songs played by the bands during other athletic events, Darnall says to stay tuned to hear what they come up with.