Two hundred former ISU marching band members joined the ISU Cyclone Football “Varsity” Marching Band this Saturday to march at halftime during the Homecoming football game.

“It’s a thrill to relive that experience to go out on the field and see the crowd,” said Michelle Finch, president of the ISU Alumni Band.

The ISU Alumni Band was organized 31 years ago. Finch explained that all members of the ISU Cyclone Football “Varsity” Marching Band become ISU Alumni Band members once they graduate.

“When you quit varsity band, you automatically become a member of the Alumni Band,” she said. “And then you can choose to attend whichever events you can.”

Finch said the Alumni Band plays during Homecoming, Winter Break, Veishea and the ISU Alumni Band Golf Classic.

Finch, a 1996 ISU graduate in industrial engineering, serves with her husband, Bob, as the Alumni Band’s presidents. She said she and Bob were involved in the Alumni Band as soon as they graduated. Since then, the couple has held several leadership positions for the band, she said.

“We just had a desire to serve the group that we had so many friends in,” Finch said. “We wanted to be supportive of the music department at Iowa State where we met and do something we both enjoy, something we can do together.”

Fellow Alumni Band member Jenny Pollard, a 2006 ISU graduate in liberal studies, also met her husband in marching band.

“Quite often, people meet in band and then eventually get married,” Pollard said. “It’s a great dating service.”

Pollard, assistant director for membership and revenue enhancement for the ISU Alumni Association, said her favorite part of being in band as a college student was meeting people.

“It was the best experience at college,” she said. “When you join the marching band, you get 300 friends right off bat. And most of those people continue those friendships.”

According to the Alumni Band’s website, graduates from 1948 until 2011 said they were attending the Homecoming 2011 Alumni Band reunion.

“Even though they didn’t know each other in college, they have gotten to know each other,” Finch said. “People want to reconnect with those friends they have made over the years at the reunions.”

Pollard said her favorite part of attending Alumni Band reunions is reconnecting with people. She said that when they share stories, it’s as if they “never missed a beat.”

“I think it really is about getting to come back and see friends,” Pollard said. “[Band] is just something you are so passionate about and spent so much time as a student. You are kind of bonded to band for life.”