The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
BAND BOOSTERS PLAY LARGE ROLE
Parents help plan moving equipment, cooking for Firelands Marching Band
Director Dustin Wiley sings praises in almost every octave of Firelands Band Boosters as they hoist equipment and stack munchies week after week.
“This year, our band parents have been a phenomenal group,” Wiley said, “in terms of their work ethic and their willing ness to help, which is why we have an explosion of help this year.”
A core group meets once a month to plan and strategize, he said.
But Wiley estimates 50 or 60 parents take turns loading equipment in a band trailer and pickup trucks and following the band to Friday night lights.
The boosters also stir large batches of their favorite recipes to feed the 85 band members a meal before the trip and more snacks at the game.
And last weekend, they proved dedication and devotion by traveling to back-toback performances of their favorite young people.
After the football game at Buckeye High School on the night of Oct. 13, the band boarded buses for a hotel in Columbus to rest before an inaugural showing 11:30
“This year, our band parents have been a phenomenal group.” — Firelands Band Director Dustin Wiley
a.m., Oct. 14, at the Buckeye Invitational band competition at The Ohio State University Horseshoe Stadium.
Parents made sure food was available in the hotel rooms when the band arrived, Wiley said.
He told the students to pack light for the trip because of the logistics of moving luggage, but that presented another issue: Some students only owned one set of clothing to wear under their uniforms.
Going the extra mile, two band dads volunteered to wash clothes all night so the students could wear clean clothes under their uniforms the next day.
“The great things about the parents is they’re not concerned just about their own child,” Wiley said. “But they’re parents for all the kids. It’s a great group to work with.”
A total of 43 Ohio bands were selected to compete at the adjudicated event hosted by Ohio Music Educators Association, Wiley said.
Only 10 parents were permitted to help at the Shoe, he said, and their jobs included moving equipment on and off the field and supporting the students.
“At our performance on Saturday, the students did a phenomenal job,” Wiley said. “It was their best performance of the season, and they improved their scores significantly from when we competed last year.
“They also were the second place auxiliary and third place general effect for our classification.”
Parents say volunteering provides a satisfying way of spending time with and enjoying the teens.
“We just do what we can to help,” said Tim Born, who started volunteering when his oldest daughter, Cora Lynn Born, 16, a junior mellophone player, was in the eighth-grade because the band wanted to go to Walt Disney World when she was a freshman.
“So we wanted to be involved in raising money,” Born said, adding he played percussion
back in the day. “To me, it’s helping the kids.
“By doing the work we do, I think it’s bettering the kids and taking the pressure off them so they can perform at their peak, not having to worry about behind the scenes stuff going on.”
Born’s work includes raising money to buy uniforms and equipment, and to fund trips so parents do not need to fork out so much money.
“I’m not an officer in the band boosters,” he said. “I would rather do the grunt work. I show up and help and do my part with manual labor, and whatever else I can.”
His youngest daughter, Hattie Born, 14, is a freshman in the color guard, and Born said he enjoys the sideline view.
“It’s great to watch them out on the field because you can see and hear the music and see their actions and watch the improvement from game one through the football season,” Born said. “It’s amazing to me, and it’s fun.
“I went to Firelands. We can see Firelands High School from our back yard.”
Born said his mother was a teacher for about 30 years at Firelands and his wife currently teaches kindergarten at Firelands.
“We’re pretty intertwined with the school district,” he said. “A couple years ago, we had T-shirts printed up: ‘Some people wait a lifetime to meet their favorite musician: I raised mine.’ I love that shirt.”
The boosters bought a grill for the band this year, Wiley said, adding food ranged from sloppy Joes, pizza, hotdogs and hamburgers to baked potato bars and walking tacos.
Stacey Trottier, a secretary for the band boosters, started volunteering three years ago with her junior daughter, Alejandra Silva, 16, marching in the flag corp.
For home games, the boosters feed both bands, Trottier said.
“We do it for the kids,” she said. “We love volunteering. We work hard. We don’t expect compensation.”
Trottier said her younger son, Santos Silva, helps by carrying a tuba for a student who injured himself at the Woolybear Parade and marched the
whole way anyway.
Donna Stevens, vice president of band boosters, said she’s a Firelands graduate.
“I’ve been here at the high school many, many years,” Stevens said, adding she was not in the band, but her senior daughter, Kassidy Stevens, plays clarinet and passes out “lucky mints” to band members each week after the meal.
“I love the community,” Stevens said. “I love the people. I love the kids. I think they’re awesome. My son graduated in 2015. I started with him in the fifth-grade.”
Sophomore William Krejci filled in for a person who normally loads the trailer with large band instruments and equipment.
“We all help a little bit,” William said, adding he appreciates the parents. “It’s pretty great because extra help is always welcome. Also, they’re pretty sweet, pretty radical.”
Inside the band room, Sophie Langer, mother of senior saxophone player Ariel Langer, 17, scooped sloppy Joe onto buns beside a table with trays of other food.
Other duties include passing out uniforms before a show.
“I love it,” Langer said. “I love these kids. I love what they do. I love my community and music.
“You need music. You need arts, which a lot of schools try to get away from. You should see when we feed our band and the away people.
“That’s a lot of people. That’s why they call you a ‘band mom.’ You’re a mom to them all.”
Wiley said the boosters and Lorain Medina Rural Electric Cooperative recently spent $11,000 on new instrument storage cabinets for 90 small instruments.
Cabinets for the tubas and large instruments are on a wish list, he said.
Wiley says the volunteer effort is amazing every week.
“It looks chaotic, but it’s really a well oiled machine,” he said. “Everything is getting done. Everybody knows what to do.
“The parents are one of the best recruiting tools for the program. If you have a good program, it’s because you have great parents.”