FRANKTON — A new chapter in the Frankton High School marching band has begun as first-year director James Handshoe takes the reigns of a program looking to return to glory days of decades’ past.

Currently, the band sits at 40 members. That’s contrasted with more than 100 students that served the band in 1980s, according to Handshoe, but he said he hopes to bring interested kids back to the music.

“Who knows if it’ll ever get back to that point?” Handshoe said. “But that’s the goal to strive for, to get kids excited about the program year-round.”

Handshoe has implemented a written curriculum to involve his students at a higher level than previously. By doing so, he said he hopes to ultimately leave the success of the band in the students’ hands.

“One of the things I’m really big on is student leadership,” Handshoe said. “I want to allow them to take the reins and take more ownership instead of it all being driven by the director. That way, if I weren’t here, the kids would essentially be able to keep going.”

So far, his mindset has paid off.

Senior clarinetist Sam Willmann said the marching band had already begun to buy into Handshoe’s strategy.

“I think he’s given us a pretty good push in that direction,” Willmann said. “I think he’s got a feeling for the whole band, and he’s incorporated everybody. We have fun when we’re supposed to have fun, and we get to work when we need to, also.”

Willmann and her brother, freshman Ryan Willmann, will both help represent Frankton High School at the Indiana State Fair Band Day on Wednesday. In Ryan’s first summer with the high school team, he said his sister has helped make the transition far easier.

“She’s been nice to me and made it go more smoothly for me,” Ryan Willmann said. “I just work hard at it, and she helps out when I need it.”

Handshoe formerly served as assistant band director at Anderson High School, and it was his wife and brother-in-law, both Frankton High School alums, who helped draw him into his current position.

He will have big shoes to fill after the tenure of former band director Joe Dodridge, who spent four years in Frankton.

To motivate the troops, on July 24, Handshoe and the band members put on a car wash at Bower’s Grocery Store in Frankton. The day attracted multiple alums of the program from previous eras, as well as multiple community members who came to show support.

“It seems like the community still remembers some of the tradition (of the program),” Handshoe said. “I think some of that tradition is still here. We just need to let it out.”

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