After being in the color guard for six years, and serving as Midtown’s color guard assistant coach, Tre Griggs has recently become the director for the color guard. 

Dance has been an influential part of Griggs’ life since he was 12 years old, but it was not until his senior year of high school that he joined color guard. He went on to perform at Georgia State University for five years. An appearance in the 2019 Super Bowl Halftime show in Atlanta as well as spending a summer competing with other professional marching bands through Carolina Crown helped Griggs gain experience. 

“If I didn’t get the experience from all these different places, I would never have been equipped to teach,” Griggs said. “It’s kind of the same way with school, in order to be a teacher, you have to have been a student at some point, and that’s kind of the way that color guard is.”

Junior Cierra Risby joined color guard last April and has appreciated the coaching skills Griggs uses. 

“He’s just really supportive,” Risby said. “He notices good aspects in all of us individually, and then he works on that and helps us improve.”

Griggs plans on expanding the color guard through initiating the Winter Guard, a new program at Midtown that will last until April. Griggs hoped that an interest meeting on Nov. 10 would bring new opportunities for the team. 

“Before, there’s only been the fall season for the color guard,” Griggs said. “I’m going to be starting [a new program] this year at Midtown called Winter Guard. We put together about a four-minute show, and we go through a competition and showcase it. We get scores and win awards. It’s going to be the first year for Midtown, so I’m really excited about it.” 

Griggs’ schedule is full with being the head coach at Midtown, along with his job as an assistant coach for Chamblee High School’s color guard team. His passion for color guard and dancing has turned his packed schedule into an asset.

“Life is a stretch for me, but I love it,” Griggs said. “This is one of those things where as a high schooler, all you think about is what you want to do with life and how you’re going to be able to do those things. I’m really at a place now where I’m really excited, and I’m happy because I get to do the things that I love.”

Similar to others on the color guard, Risby has admired Griggs’ passion for dance. His inspiration has led her to consider continuing in color guard after graduation. 

“I was able to see that [color guard] can be a thing for you,” Risby said. “It could be something you could pursue in your future because now I’m thinking of doing it in college. That wasn’t a thing before so [Griggs] kind of helped with that.”

Senior and color guard captain Brooke Jones joined the team towards the end of her sophomore year. Jones has also felt the encouragement to continue color guard after high school because of Griggs’ passion. 

“[His passion] rubs off on us because we watch him,” Jones said. “Whenever he has a flag in his hand, he’s always throwing the flag, he’s always working on it. You can see his passion for it. I think seeing his passion rubs off on us, and I also think him working with us individually and him taking his time out to make us excited when we learn how to do new tosses or tricks, it builds our passion for it as well.” 

The influence some color guard members are receiving from Griggs is aligned with the goals he has for the team of not only helping them advance their skills, but also helping them grow as people.

“I’m still a performer,” Griggs said. “I perform at places and with other groups. I think that’s something I want the kids to see because when I got [to Midtown] a lot of them didn’t see themselves doing that. You don’t really get that exposure at Midtown to color guard like that, and that’s why I’m here. I’m here to just give them the whole world and let them see everything so that they can have the options to change whether they want to continue doing this or if they see a future in this.”