For a century after its founding in 1870, the Spartan Marching Band was known for its iconic green-and-white uniforms, ROTC background and all-male repertoire. The latter changed in 1972 when the band recruited its first two female members, feature twirler Beth Mlynarek and alto saxophonist Lynne Charbonneau. Three years later, Judy Peterson became the first woman to become part of the drumline in 1975. Anthropology junior Jenna Wesley joined the Spartan Marching Band during her sophomore year at MSU.
Wesley’s passion for the Spartan Marching Band comes from her father, an alum from the 1970s. Although she’d spent the first ten years of her life in northern California, Wesley’s father often played old records and tapes of his time at MSU. According to Wesley, he’d occasionally interrupt with “That’s me!” or the inevitable “You have to go there.”
Once she began taking drum lessons at eight, playing for MSU became her dream.
In 2025, 50 years after Peterson, Wesley would become the first woman to be appointed drumline section leader for the Spartan Marching Band.
“To get in at all was really exciting for me,” Wesley said. “And then to work my way up, I was really excited. I think a year ago, I thought maybe I’d be going for it, (but) I didn’t think that I would get it or anything.Wesley wasn’t even the first to break the news to her loved ones. No, cymbal section leader Anna Scholes had been the first to text a groupchat with Wesley and cymbal squad leader Brooke Ringstad. Scholes and Ringstad had both been on the same email Wesley received that confirmed their own positions.
The email had instructions to not share the news, but the trio ended up telling each other before Wesley even told her parents.
“Every now and then I’m like, this is history,” Scholes said. “There’s never been a woman drumline section leader before, and it’s really cool to have that be one of my best friends.”
Scholes also comes from a line of Spartan Marching Band alums. However, unlike Wesley, Scholes didn’t realize she wanted to continue the “lineage” until January of her senior year of high school.
She’d attended one of the marching band’s help sessions over winter break. There wasn’t a specific moment where Scholes realized she wanted to join, instead there were multiple.
“Seeing all the people that were already in the band, the way they interacted with each other, they had all these jokes,” Scholes said. “It was such a family community that I was like, I don’t know where else I’m gonna get that.When the decisions for section leaders came out, Wesley had been folding laundry in her bedroom. The TV was still on when her phone lit up with the email notification that confirmed her new role.
