DAYTON — On Thursday, April 11, Eaton High School alumni and 2021 graduate Arianna Watkins took the world stage with Onyx A at the Dayton Convention Center for Winter Guard International preliminary competition.

The show titled “And for a moment the room fell silent” is a routine performed with no music. The sounds and sights from the flag silk and the pageantry of their body movement is all they have to wow the judges. They did just that. Onyx A pushed themselves to take a semi-finals position and performed in Northern Kentucky.

Watkins started her guard career at Eaton High School under the direction of Lisa White, and quickly fell in love with the activity. She hopes to take over the Eaton program soon and will bring her knowledge of competing at a world level back to her hometown.

Winter guard is the sport of indoor color guard. Modern color guard is a combination of the use of flags, sabers, mock rifles, and other equipment, as well as dance and other interpretive movement. Most color guards can be found in, high schools, middle schools, and some universities, but independent organizations exist as well, affiliated more with a geographical location or drum corps, rather than a school system.

In the spring of 1977, a small group of representatives met and formed an organization to govern the color guard activity from coast to coast. The goal was to create a standard set of competition rules, establish a unity in judging techniques, and provide a national championship event. The organization that would bloom from this meeting was known as Winter Guard International. Since its inception, WGI has drawn together the growing winter guard activity and provided leadership and guidance to generations of performers around the world.

WGI brings millions of dollars to Dayton, from around the world each year.