Teaching band classes for Conway Springs High School and middle school is time consuming enough, but band director Dennis Kerr also spends a lot of his free time judging marching bands and Winter Guard Percussion.

        “I judge on most weekends,” Mr. Kerr said. “For marching bands, it's from mid-September to November, and for Winter Guard it’s from the end of January to the first of April.”

        Kerr has traveled around the state as well as out of state, judging in Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. The farthest he has traveled was Cincinnati, Ohio.

        “One reason [I judge] is to trade off with other directors,” Mr. Kerr said. “Another is that the community is great, and we enjoy it.”

        Judging for marching bands and Winter Guard Percussion has been a passion of Kerr’s for “a very long time,” and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

        “I plan on judging as long as I am physically able to,” Mr. Kerr said.