Band Camp

This one time...at band camp...

Yes, August has brought the inevitable...Band Camp. Because our school used to be on three tracks, year round, this is a new idea...well, hasn't been around for at least 15 years. Last year, we only had 7 people, so we used the whole week to recruit as students came on campus to register for the new traditional school schedules. This year, I started the summer with a roster of 32. Seven showed up for camp this Monday and have continued to come every day. We have only added three more for a total of 10. I nearly cried. We had called everyone several times and 17 had confirmed with at least 5 maybes.

Tet moment of truth for me was Monday morning for about 5 minutes. The students were outside, it was supposed to get up into the 100s every day this week, and I had a choice to make. Do I spend 40 unpaid hours teaching 7 students? When I wasn't on contract? Or do I cancel it and wait for school to start, when the rest of the students would show up? I really thought hard. But I knew the answer. I had 7 teenagers in front of me who loved music, had nothing else to do, and needed to be taught. As always, I realized it was my privilege to teach them, and that the results would only make things easier on me when school began. I took a deep breath, let it go, smiled and walked outside to do my job.

"Welcome to Band Camp 2010! Let's go to the field."