There will be a splash of black and orange in this fall’s St. Francis University Red Flash Marching Band now that Clarion High School graduate MacKenzie DiTullio is joining the band as feature twirler.
It seems DiTullio has been on a collision course with greatness since she began competitive baton twirling at age four. She participated in her first national competition at just seven, and now she’s ready to wow football crowds in Loretto and beyond.
Daniel Atwood, director of the St. Francis band, said the feature twirler is “someone who demonstrates exceptional ability often combining elements of baton twirling, dance and gymnastics.”
Melissa Colbert, the director of the Twirling Angels Baton Corps, of which DiTullio is a member, is a former Miss Teenage Majorette of Pennsylvania and Clarion University Golden Girl.
DiTullio’s inspiration, Brianna Colbert, was a Penn State Touch of Blue Majorette and eight-time World Open three baton champion.
DiTullio said that seeing Colbert twirl for the first time was one of her biggest inspirations.
“I watched Brianna practicing and I looked at my mom and said ‘I wanna be like her’,” DiTullio said.
But DiTullio hasn’t let the prestige of her mentors fool her into believing her talent comes easily. She has worked tirelessly with her Twirling Angels team and individually to get to the level she is at. She was a solo regional champion last year and has started competing in the advanced category this year.
And her team is undefeated so far this year.
As the feature twirler for the Clarion High School marching band, DiTullio would wow audiences with her flaming batons during halftime, something Clarion Sports Zone writer Dave McClaine noticed.
“It hit me that MacKenzie is as much of an athlete as any at Clarion Area.” McClaine said.
Away from the baton, DiTullio has won the Alan Peterson Academic Achievement Award for softball and the John Philip Sousa Award for her dedication to the music program at Clarion High School.
At St. Francis, she plans to major in occupational therapy with minors in psychology and American sign language. She will also play trumpet in the pep band during basketball season.
And she hopes she may someday inspire a four-year-old to say, “I wanna be like her.”