While we all know that the football team is trying their very best, if you ladies ever need something to watch during the games, look out for this cutie! His name is Aaron Blow and he is one of the spirit leaders for the Northwestern University Marching Band. Remember those awesome guys breaking it down on the ladders and doing push-ups on the field those few times we score? Yeah that’s him all right! He leads the chants, plays trombone, and does it all while wearing that crazy hat. So watch out ladies, he might just lead his spirit right into your heart (;
Name: Aaron Blow
Year: Junior
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Maple Grove, Minnesota
What are your responsibilities as the Northwestern Band’s spirit leader?
Well, it’s not strictly defined anywhere. I took it as getting the band excited for game days. Performances will take care of themselves, but we try to get everyone’s energy up. I help out with the chants for the band, but we are going to try to take more charge with the student section in leading cheers. We also want to teach the new incoming classes the chants and steps at Millennium Park in the future.
How did you become interested in this job and NUMB?
My first two years at Northwestern my good friend, Andrew Rothschild, was the spirit leader. I saw what he was doing and thought it looked like a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work but it’s stuff that I think I do well. I can usually stand up there and goof off and come up with something good to do, so it seemed like a good fit for me.
What is the best part about leading the student section during football games?
The best part is the energy of interacting with the band. Evan Gray and I want to try to lead the student section more and have the band interact with the crowd. On both sides of the band, there are students. Each side wants to do the chants like, “What time is it? It’s time to move the chain WHOOSH”. Each side wants to do the chants, but if we could unify the crowd, that would be great. There wouldn’t necessarily be much opposition to that, since nobody is doing it at the moment, but it just depends on what the students end up wanting.
What else are you involved in on campus?
I am a member of PMA, the music fraternity on campus. I also did dance marathon last year, and plan on doing it this year as well. I’m also hoping to get involved with Camp Kesem this year as well when the applications open up.
Where did you learn all those golden moves?
First off, that is definitely not true because I have zero idea what I am doing up there. I have never taken a dance class and I never have much of a plan when I’m on the stand. If I go to a formal event, I won’t even dance. I feel embarrassed. But when I’m up on a latter by myself, there’s no problem doing it. It’s the mood.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
College has definitely changed me, so ten years from now looks very different than it did my freshman year. I imagine I will be doing a people-person job. I am really interested in how the world works and how people work. I can see myself doing psychological research or human resources, focusing on how people function and how society as a whole functions as well.
Where did your nickname “Twinkie” come from?
Everyone in NUMB has a nickname that they are assigned on the first day of band camp. Mine was given to me from my section of trombones or “boneheads”. Everyone in the section is named after a line of hostess products. There are a bunch of lineages, but I got Twinkie. They almost went out of business, but thankfully I died and rose again! Evan’s name from the melephone section is “Geico”, and I have no idea how he got it, so these names don’t really have anything to do with our personalities or appearances. I actually hate twinkies. They taste like death. But every once in a while I will eat one to tribute myself.
Well, ladies, he definitely doesn’t look like a Twinkie, so look out for him at the next home game! Go ‘cats!