Sheehan, a fifth-year student, earned the role known for its iconic forward flip, a staple of every pregame show.

“For as long as I can remember, I was probably like eight years old going to my first Penn State game and I saw the front flip and I was like ‘That’s what I want to do,’ so this has been a very, very long dream come true,” Sheehan said.

The Hollidaysburg native said the announcement that she was chosen proved to be surreal, “I was super, super excited and just really grateful to be able to build on the legacy and tradition of the Blue Band drum majors before me and the ones to come.”

Sheehan says there’s a lot that goes into the role of being a drum major. “The big leadership aspect, I think a lot of people just really focus on the flip, but the drum major plays a really, really important role in the band. Getting the band ready, setting the tone for every single rehearsal, and making sure that everyone feels that they belong in our

Sentinel File Photo by MIKE GOSS Art Belfiore (left) and Brandon Kahley play the national anthem at the Mifflin County Huskies’ first football game at Kish Bank Field at Donald M. Chapman III Stadium on Aug. 22. Belfiore, shown playing the mellophone, recently retired as director of bands at Mifflin County High School, and was replaced by Kahley, on trumpet.

Blue Band family.”

Art Belfiore and Brandon Kahley can relate to her plight. The former and current Mifflin County High School directors of bands both marched in the iconic Blue Band during their days in Happy Valley.

Belfiore, who retired after being hired as the band director at Lewistown Area High School in 1991, was surprised it’s taken this long for a female to assume the role.

“The Blue Band was all male into the early ’70s, so it’s been over 50 years since the possibility of having a female drum major,” Belfiore explained.

As a graduate student at Penn State, Belfiore sat in on auditions. Performing — and completing — the front flip was a dealbreaker for many prospective candidates.

Sentinel File Photo by MIKE GOSS Penn State Blue Band member Ellie Sheehan is the newest in a long line of drum majors.

“The person who was selected as the one who could do the flip,” Belfiore said. “To do it, you have to be super physically fit.”

Belfiore said his experience in Blue Band continued to shape his career as a marching band director, especially from an organizational and educational standpoint. He recalled when the Blue Band came to his hometown for a concert. “I just thought it was the coolest thing. As a ninth-grader, I already knew I wanted to go into music, go to Penn State and be in the Blue Band.”

The Blue Band also helped him achieve that goal, too, as Belfiore was assigned to the Hazleton campus. By auditioning and being selected for the Blue Band, which he described as “quite the ordeal,” he was transferred to the University Park campus.

“I was like a fish out of water,” Belfiore said. “I made the band and marched right away. I learned about organization and how rehearsals were run.” He used those lessons throughout his career, including those used when overseeing the 65-piece trumpet section.

“It was part of the reason I was so successful as marching band director,” Belfiore said. “Without the Blue Band, I would probably not have been as successful.”

Kahley, who was hired to replace Belfiore after the longtime director announced his retirement as mentor of the decorated Marching Huskies this summer, had similar Blue Band experiences from his run from 2018 to 2022.

Kahley knows Sheehan’s father, Scott, who is the director of bands at Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School. As a college sophomore, Kahley thought about auditioning for the position, but the ability to consistently deliver the front flip stopped him.

“I know how the audition process goes,” Kahley laughed. “If you can do it five times in a row without failing, that’s the first part of the audition.

“I could do it once, but every other time I landed on my butt,” Kahley added.

And, on Saturday, Aug. 30, in Beaver Stadium, Sheehan nailed her first trademark flip of the season in front of a packed blue-and-white crowd. Sheehan led the band onto the field during the pregame before taking a running start and then nailing her first forward flip around midfield.

The flip is a longtime tradition of the Blue Band’s drum major, one that dates back about 50 years. In 1971, according to the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, drum major Jeff Robertson became the first to perform a flip to energize the crowd — and, by 1977, the pregame maneuver became so popular it stuck. (When a drum major tried to perform a routine without the flip in the early 1970s, he was booed.)

Much like Belfiore, Kahley gleaned important directorial skills from his days in Blue Band, especially as a music section leader for the mellophones in 2021 and 2022.

“I had to teach the whole section the music,” he recalled. “That meant more for me since I was music ed.”

Kahley did give some feedback about the drum major selection for Sheehan’s predecessor, Carson Pedaci.

Looking back on his years in Blue Band, Kahley preferred playing music in Blue Band rather than assuming the drum major role. “It was an extremely amazing thing to say that you are (a Blue Band member), ” he said. “A lot of people are in the band to play their instruments. I prefer to play music, and I miss being in the band playing music.”

Even today as the bands play on.