Director’s Notes:
We are (hopefully) getting into a normal operating routine after our weather cancelations, delays, holidays, and my absences. Thank you all for your patience! I hope everyone had a great winter break; the students reported enjoying myriad activities, including travel, communing with family, and sleeping. We are getting our new management system, “Cut Time,” up and running. You should be receiving emails from Yorktown Band Boosters (YBB) through that platform. We hope to have the ability to accept payments to YBB soon. I will also update student account balances in Cut Time in the coming weeks.
Spring Trip
Payment two ($250) was due Friday, January 17. If you have not yet submitted it, please do so as soon as possible.
Practice-A-Thon – visit https://go.rallyup.com/yhsband2025/Campaign/Details
Practice-A-Thon is YBB’s second biggest fundraising effort of each academic year. YBB’s annual budget is $49,500. Band Day was successful but came in about $3K under budget. We are counting on Practice-A-Thon to bring in at least $13K to meet its goal and fill in the gap from Band Day’s shortfall to fully fund a robust band experience for our students. YBB supports clinician expenses for concert, jazz, and marching band, and everything beyond our APS budget including critical items and services to allow all aspects of our comprehensive band program to continue to perform at the highest level.
We need everyone’s help to meet this goal. The per-student goal is $250. Students should have received an email (to their personal email address) from “Rally Up” with a link to their individualized fundraising page. They should create a login to be able to customize their page. Students are encouraged to add a picture and a personalized message. Links to individual student pages can be shared to solicit donations. Individual pages can only be seen via shared links and are not accessible by the general public. If you did not get an email from Rally Up, check your spam folder first, then email yorktownbandarlington@gmail.com. We are not looking for students’ parents’ to donate. Students and parents are encouraged to ask for support from their network of family, friends, colleagues, and other champions.
On the Horizon:
- January 30 – Feb. 1: All-District Band event @ Oakton
- February 22: All-Virginia Band & Orchestra Auditions @ JMU
Outside (Non-YHS/APS) Opportunities - GMU Clarinet Day – Sunday, January 26, Register here.
- Student Happenings
If you/your student have any events coming up like recitals, concerts with outside groups, sporting events, etc., let me know and I am happy to include them in the updates so we can support you!