Move-in day and HS students

[kansasDC]

Move to Kansas! My son has marched five years of DCI and has never missed a single day of move-in camp. Both his Middle School and his HS always get out a few days before move-in day. This year his HS graduation is May 16th, so camp should not be a problem.

[Piper]

Okay - But I don't agree with that at all. Drum corps is not, and never will be, more important than school. And shame on them for making you feel that way.

Not always in my experience. School taught me a lot about force-fed academics. It taught me to learn it (which I did) and it taught me to hate it (which I also did). Winston Churchill once said "I was always eager to learn but I was not always willing to be taught". Same here. My HS teachers would have been shocked if they had seen how different and diciplined I was at a corps rehearsal. School taught me that 2+2=4, but Drum Corps taught me about life, and that's what I really wanted to learn.

[bmroth1]

When you are a high school student competing for a spot in a world class corps and you tell them you are going to miss three weeks of Spring Training and someone else can be there the whole time, who do you think is going to get the spot? My son got a clear message that he needed to work out the school conflict in a way that he was at Spring Training the majority of the time and the corps helped make it happen by writing a letter to the principal.

Any corps worth their weight in gold will accommodate finishing high school. Sure all the corps will write the letter but at the end of the day if that doesn't work then school should come first without concern over losing their spot as long as the member is doing all they can to be there when they can.

Edited August 26, 2009 by bmroth1

[fourouttheforty]

as long as the member is doing all they can to be there when they can.

Well, some organizations have very extreme definitions of this, which is why it's important to bring it up now or at your first camp and not in April.

[MikeD]

My daughter is a HS junior and is going to audition for a WC corps this fall. My concern is that the move in day for brass in this corps in in mid May. I'm not terribly concerned about her missing the last month of school work. That she can either do before she goes, or we can definitely work something out with her teachers. The problem is that she is the lead player in the jazz band and they have a big show they do every year that runs for four days scheduled the week after the move in date for the corps. I imagine it would be a big deal to either miss the first two weeks, or be there for 4 days and then miss a week. I know we'll have to have these discussions with both her band director and the corps if she is selected, so I'm probably jumping the gun, but I want to be fully prepared if she does well enough to be selected. Just wondering if anyone here has experience with juggling HS commitments and moving in with a corps who might have some advice. It does help that her band director and asst director both marched DCI, so they may be a tad more understanding. ;)

Are there attendance requirements in your state? There are in NJ...not sure a student can just miss 10% of the school year like that in many places. As others have said...check with not only the music dept, but the school admin too.

[corpsband]

My daughter is a HS junior and is going to audition for a WC corps this fall. My concern is that the move in day for brass in this corps in in mid May. I'm not terribly concerned about her missing the last month of school work. That she can either do before she goes, or we can definitely work something out with her teachers. The problem is that she is the lead player in the jazz band and they have a big show they do every year that runs for four days scheduled the week after the move in date for the corps. I imagine it would be a big deal to either miss the first two weeks, or be there for 4 days and then miss a week. I know we'll have to have these discussions with both her band director and the corps if she is selected, so I'm probably jumping the gun, but I want to be fully prepared if she does well enough to be selected. Just wondering if anyone here has experience with juggling HS commitments and moving in with a corps who might have some advice. It does help that her band director and asst director both marched DCI, so they may be a tad more understanding. ;)

My daughter graduated this past spring. She flew down for the first 4 days of Spring Training, left for 4 days for graduation stuff, and returned. Everyone at the corps was really supportive about missing (and catching up).

Edited August 26, 2009 by corpsband

[BigDale]

Okay - But I don't agree with that at all. Drum corps is not, and never will be, more important than school. And shame on them for making you feel that way.

Hey,

If I am paying $2700 for my kid to march in a "WC" corps, you better believe that comes before school, church and family! I gave up my HS graduation ceremony to make Memorial Day camp in Dubuque when I marched.

Thanks Jim Mason and Tom Lotter. You really taught me how to deal with drum corps and life.

(My mom loved coming to my symphony concerts my senior HS year, when I was the principal tubist of Lima Symphony...she and dad were really happy to come to my commencement ceremony at Ohio State in March of '88. Mom was dead and dad did not see my MAE in '01. No one saw my PhD in '05.)

You are paying a huge amount for these kids to march in whatever corps today.

Make it worth your/ their while.

[84skyrydr]

There is always online schools too. I housed some hockey kids of high school age and that is how they do it. They do it online and when they are traded they are still in the same classes no matter where they go. As for the last show in high school, its up to the poerson as to how important it is, but I guarantee everyone remembers their last corps performance. Mine was in the rain on Geargia Techs field, getting soaked, watching the crowd run for cover and watching our flags cling to their poles. Tympani were flat and rifles were dropped. We couldn't have had a worse last show ever, but I will neever forget any of it. We were fighting for top twelve and DIED to 17.

[Shannon98]

The Best thing you are doing is that you are addressing the issue early enough in the school year. I am a teacher and have worked on the administrative and instructional staff side of a WC drum corps. the biggest thing that needs to hapen is COMMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE! COMMUNICATE! Clearly you and your daughter are addrssing the issue immediately, which will make all parties involved happy. Some schools will say if you wait until April or May to address the concern, however if you make arrangements now everything should work out. You may have to watch out for any important test like AP test or state mandated test that she may or may not have to pass for graduation. The other item is most corps have a form letter they can submit to schools explaining who they are and how the activity is an educational experience and will help her grow as a student. You are doing the right thing and there is a balance out there. You can have her band director advocate for her as well. If you are in the state of Maryland PM me and I can give you aahand if you need it.

Shannon.

[Shamu89]

Thanks to everyone for the great information and your concerns. My wife works in the school system, so we have a good idea of what we need to do to cover that aspect of it. My question was more aimed at the reactions of the corps, and more importantly, the corps members and how they work with and handle kids coming in late or missing time. Our school year starts late (Sep 8) and doesn't get out until June 22! The past couple of years my daughter has been in HS, most heavy work is done by the time they take their SOL (Standards of Learning) tests, which I believe are state or federally mandated and take place sometime in May. After those, the only important milestones are the finals for each course, and I'm sure we can work something out in that regard.

It's nice to hear that the corps are flexible from the voices here. I know most corps mention that school commitments need to be addressed as early as possible, but I wanted to see if that was going to be a major issue from people that have been trough the system. We understand that if she's on the bubble for making the corps and they have a choice between her and the HS commitments and another kid that does not have those, she'll lose out, and that's perfectly understandable. We will definitely communicate early and often and keep our fingers crossed.

Again, thanks a bunch for your thoughts, and surprisingly, your concern. It's refreshing to get feedback to questions where what's best for my daughter is the basis for the answers, regardless of the position taken by the poster.