Warren Central’s indoor percussion and color guard ensembles had the chance to take on the world in Dayton, Ohio last week.

The two ensembles made the trip to Dayton where they had the chance to compete against and watch the best of the best.

The color guard was up first and performed their show to Alessia Cara’s “River of Tears.” Their classification included 140 groups and they didn’t make it out of prelims, but for a group that returns more than half its members the experience will pay massive dividends down the road.

“They get to see what is possible,” instructor Jace McMullin said.

“In the state of Mississippi, there are not a lot of people who go up there to compete and they don’t get to see a lot of high quality groups. When we went up there, they kept asking me if the kids and groups were college kids and were shocked that they were high school kids their age or even younger than them able to do things they don’t think they can. It is good for them to realize they can grow.”

The percussion ensemble’s show entitled “Glow” invoked nighttime as they played the role of fireflies while performing “Head Rush” by Jay Bocook and “Firefly Light” by Philip Wesley and “Fireflies” by Owl City.

Their show in Dayton was their best of the season, instructor Nathan Ball said, but a penalty that cost them 10 points kept them from qualifying for semifinals.

“We use glass mason jars and we were unaware until that day that glass is not allowed on the floor and it ended up costing us 10 points,” Ball said.