At 21 years old, Kaytlin Manasco has just finished her last eligible year as a member of The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps of Drum Corps International, one of the world’s most exclusive marching ensembles for student musicians and performers.
But the Petal native certainly closed out her stint with the corps in proper fashion, being named Cadet of the Year after her team finished seventh internationally in the DCI World Championships earlier this month at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
“I’ve been marching with The Cadets for three years; I’ve been in the front ensemble playing marimba for the past two years,” said Manasco, who graduated from Petal High School in 2015. “With this being my age-out year, I wanted to go for the section leader position, and I was responsible for the members of my group and everything that the staff needed to know, the inventory information and the whereabouts of everything.
“So I took that on and tried to make this the best season that I could, with it being my last year, and tried to make it the best for the members that came in this year. So it was really an honor to receive such as prestigious award out of so many people that were around me this season. It’s a pretty big deal for someone from Petal, Mississippi to reach this level.”
The Cadet of the Year award, which is the highest honor a member of The Cadets can receive, is based on observations of the corps’ staff, including how members interact with each other and displays of honesty and integrity.
“It’s really about how you go about your day-to-day, being the best you can be,” Manasco said. “You’re making sure that everyone around you is performing at their best and always having a good time, and just making sure that everything is running smoothly.”
The Cadets, which is based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania, is one of the 13 founding groups of DCI and is a 10-time DCI World Champion group. Founded in 1934, the group is the oldest continuously active junior drum and bugle corps in North America.
The group employs 154 marching members who compete around the country against other corps, including approximately 32 shows over the span of 60 days this summer.
Manasco joined the group after being a band member at Petal Middle School and Petal High School under the instruction of band director Tony Lymon.
“Joining The Cadets, I immediately thought that it was one of the top groups that I could never really make it into, but I’m going to try,” Manasco said. “Honestly, Tony Lymon was my biggest supporter in this from the get-go, because I didn’t know where to go at first – I didn’t know what corps would be best for me.
“He immediately told me to go into The Cadets because of their work ethic and their strive for excellence. And that’s something I was used to at Petal, because that’s where I first learned how to really work hard for something I wanted.”
This year’s DCI World Championships consisted of groups from around the world, including England, Japan and Belgium.
“This is beyond me being proud of (Kaytlin), because we literally talked about this when she was in the sixth grade,” Lymon said. “I was part of a DCI group called Star of Indiana, and we actually won the world championships in 1991 in my first year, and my wife marched in The Cadets back at that same time.
“So I talked with Kaytlin when she was really young, and showed her what was possible with what she had just gotten into as an 11-year-old in band. The fact that she took that to heart and had that on her mind, and actually made the group and became a three-year member – for her to be named Cadet of the Year is just icing on the cake.”
Manasco, who is an elementary education major at the University of Southern Mississippi, has been working for the last three years as an ensemble technician with the Petal marching band and Petal Indoor Percussion Theater.
“I’ll be graduating (from USM) in December 2019, and from there I’d like to hopefully stay in the Petal School District and start teaching here.”
