Each year, Mandarins Corps Members select one of their own, to receive the Outstanding Corps Member award. This award is given in memory of Joe Fong, our 1976 recipient. That year, the Mandarins’ repertoire included music from The Wiz; these lyrics are engraved on a perpetual trophy displayed at the Mandarins Music Center: “If you believe within your heart, you’ll know that no one can change the path that you must go.”
Congratulations to our 2021 recipient, Amanda Lopes. She marched four years with the Mandarins and aged-out this season. Amanda’s involved with the Mandarins Music Academy and was also a clinician at our Leadership Camp this past summer. She’s a graduate of the Sac State School of Music and currently a student teacher at Arden Middle School.
Amanda said, “It is an honor to receive the Joe Fong Memorial Award. It means so much to know that my peers thought I was a good member on and off the field, enough to nominate me for the award. I couldn’t have done my job as Horn Sergeant without all of their hard work and support throughout the brief 2020 season and out 2021 season.”
