Bonett, in his seventh season with the Marching Ravens, was happy to welcome his former UD bandmate to the Ravens band last year. 

“The UD marching band did two shows a year, and we had to learn a new show in the middle of the semester,” Bonett said. “At Ravens’ band, we have about three weeks, which means nine hours of rehearsal, to put together a show. You need to learn quickly, and having had that quick turnaround for a second show at UD helped prepare you for it.” 

Bonett is a second-year doctoral student in the biochemistry and molecular biology program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He started with the Marching Ravens during the spring semester of his senior year at UD before heading to graduate school at Towson University. At UD, Bonett worked in the laboratory on molecular biology research with professor and genome scientist Carl Schmidt.

“Through UD, I found that I have a real passion for research,” Bonett said. “I went back for my master’s, and now for my Ph.D. I can't stay out of the lab — that's where I want to make my difference.”

Bonett is in the early stages of his doctoral research. 

“One project I’m working on is isolating lipid droplets from a brain in order for us to characterize the lipids within a healthy model and an Alzheimer's model,” Bonett said. “Lipid droplets have been implicated in Alzheimer's and other aging-related diseases.”

Mann shares his friend's penchant for research. Mann earned bachelor's and master’s degrees in animal science from UD, where he minored in clarinet performance. He is the lab coordinator for CANR’s Charles C. Allen Jr. Biotechnology Laboratory. During his master’s thesis at UD, Mann worked with Yihang Li, assistant professor, animal nutrition and GI physiology.

“The primary project that I was working on was with a chicken organoid model,” Mann said. “Essentially, organoids are a multicellular model. Ours specifically were called apical-out chicken enteroids. They were to mimic the chicken intestine as closely as possible in a cell culture sense.”

The organoid model’s use and testing capabilities were not fully understood and are still under investigation.

“People were still trying to figure out the minutiae of what could be done with it,” Mann said. “So, basically, the gist of my thesis was that we had this organoid model and were testing in relation to inflammation and oxidative stress to see if it could serve as a good marker for those things in the scope of the chicken intestine.”

Mann says they found the model effective, but more research is needed.

Mann attended Newark High School, where he was also a member of the marching band. He says being in a marching band requires more than just playing an instrument.

“There’s a lot of showmanship, a lot of musicianship, a lot of teamwork and collaboration with everyone,” Mann said. “You need everybody to be able to do all of their parts in time with everyone else in sequence to actually get all the forms and all the music to come out correctly.” 

The effort requires dedication. The Marching Ravens practice for three hours a week, and game days are 12-hour days for the band. Musicians must audition every year, and the repertoire is extensive. But it’s all worth it when the band performs for the fans.

Before each home game, the Marching Ravens practice at Camden Yards. The band’s journey from Camden Yards to M&T Bank Stadium passes through RavensWalk, a pre-game experience for football fans. The band stops to play “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes, a crowd favorite. 

“RavensWalk is probably my favorite part of game day,” Bonett said. “We’re able to interact with the crowd, we’ll break formation and kind of go right up with the fans, and they get into it, and it’s awesome! We can hear them singing along with us; it’s an incredible experience.”

After hyping up the fans at RavensWalk, the band continues to the stadium, performing three to four halftime shows per season.

“The nerves never really go away, because you know the world is watching, especially on that stage,” Bonett said of the halftime show.

The band's sense of community and camaraderie keep Mann and Bonett coming back year after year. 

“It's a great environment, especially on game days,” Mann said. “The energy, not only that the band brings, but the energy of all the fans who come to watch us play, is just, it's electric. It’s incredible.”

Indeed, marching bands are synonymous with friendship for these two Blue Hens.

“I will always look back at my time at UD as a very special time,” Bonett said. “In part because of my time in the University of Delaware Marching Band, in part because of my time in the 8-Bit Orchestra, it was through my friends in the orchestra that I learned about the Marching Ravens, and UD is where I met my wife.”

Bonett is married to Ayanna (Posipanko) Bonett, UD Class of 2020 and band and orchestra teacher for Harford County Public Schools. She is a drum major for the Marching Ravens.

Mann and Bonett say joining the UD marching band enriches the college experience.

“Especially for freshmen going into the band, because we have marching band camp to prepare for the season, which happens a week and a half before other students arrive on campus,” Mann said. “I had a network of people through a wide range of majors and ages that I knew and was friends with before my classes had even started.”

Those fond UD memories have led Mann and Bonett to play in the UD Alumni Band during Homecoming, a tradition they hope to continue.