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High school marching band direct themselves after they’re left without a director

They had the option to chose another elective or figure out how to keep the band together, they chose the latter.

West Virginia band; Pocahontas High School; band director; band without director
Photo by Samuel Ramos on Unsplash

High school band directs themselves after teacher quit

Any parent of a marching band kid will tell you that they're a different breed of kids. From July through November, these kids put in hours of work daily in order to perfect their routines for halftime and competitions. They are often at school before the sun comes up and well after it goes down.

Marching band kids become family so when Pocahontas High School in West Virginia found itself without a band teacher, they decided they would figure out a way to keep their band together. The band originally had 38 members but when the band teacher left over the summer the kids were given a choice to find a new elective to replace band or find a way to make it work.

According to The Real WV, many of the kids did pick other electives but 10 kids decided to take their principal up on the offer to stick it out.

“It wasn’t an option to quit,” Hailey Fitzgerald tells The Real WV. “I’ve been in the band for seven years. I love it! It’s too important for too many reasons.”

The principal has been searching for a new band teacher since the first one left for a new school district but just couldn't find anyone. His search went well into August before coming up with alternative plans to offer the band.

“I said that we’d had zero applicants, and since we didn’t have an instructor, we’d have to get them into other classes,” Joseph Riley explains to the Washington Post.

According to the outlet, Riley told the kids if they chose to stay in the band, they would get full credit so the kids got to work finding two teachers, Casey Griffith and Jennifer Nail-Cook to be their advisors. The kids then had to decide on who would lead the Warriors band since there was no official band instructor so they nominated Hailey, who's twin is also in band. There was a pretty big hurdle the kids had to overcome, though. Yep, bigger than not having a band director.

Most of the kids left in band played drums but in order to be a proper band, they needed to bring more than the beat. They needed woodwinds, horns, drums and more but instead of being discouraged, they continued to push forward. The band now has a clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, a trumpet and three drummers.

“Several members switched instruments and some even learned brand new ones,” Hailey tells The Real WV. “We aren’t even big enough to fill a closet, but we have instruments and uniforms and we are a band.”

Unless you're in the band, it may be surprising to learn that you have to actually play certain songs during certain points in the game. You can't just play what you want whenever you feel like it, so the kids had to not only learn new instruments but adjust the music. They recently played their first home football game where they were met with supportive signs from their classmates.

“We were nervous about how it would go, but people really stood up for us,” trumpet player Kaidence Cutlip tells the Washington Post. “Everyone made signs for us in support of the band, and that gave us a lot of confidence. We all felt like, ‘We’ve got this.’”

The band plans to play at all home games and go to ratings, which every band in West Virginia is required to attend to be rated on performance. While the band continues to take notes from The Little Engine That Could, the school is still looking for a band director.

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Facebook group brings people together IRL to make meaningful friendships

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Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

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Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

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“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

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Warren Buffet's partner, Charlie Munger shared his most valuable advice on becoming a success

The billionaire passed away on November 28 at the age of 99.

via Nick / Wikimedia Commons

Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway.

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When Munger passed, his estimated worth was $2.6 billion. Buffet, 93, is believed to be worth $119 billion.

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If you're grieving a loved one this holiday season, here's a gift you can give yourself

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

Images courtesy of Kelly Cervantes

Kelly Cervantes wrote her way through grieving the loss of her daughter, Adelaide.

Kelly Cervantes begins the Introduction to her book with five words: "Grief sucks. It's also weird." It's a concise truth that anyone who has lost a loved one knows all too well.

Grief is a universal experience—none of us get through life without loss—but it's also unique to each person. Most of us are familiar with the popular "stages of grief" theory, but denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (along with guilt and a host of things) are less like sequential rungs on a ladder and more like pools you fall into at various times as you stumble your way through the grief process. Grief is not linear and it's not neat and tidy and it's not predictable.

Take it from someone who's been there. Kelly Cervantes lost her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Using writing as a therapeutic tool to help her process Adelaide's medically complex life, death and everything that came after, Kelly created the book she wished she'd had as she was trying to navigate her own grieving process.

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