Good morning Tiger Band Families,

Congratulations to the booster clubs for hosting a great 50th Anniversary Pickerington Band Festival.  We are quickly turning into a sought after event by bands across central Ohio and beyond.  This isn't possible without dedicated parent groups and superior team work.  Thank you for every minute spend on planning and serving. 

Congrats to the Marching Tigers!  We have yet again qualified for State Marching Band Finals at our first show.  I will do some digging and see how many years are in this streak. Congratulations are certainly in order, but I do want to remind families and students that we are not finished with the show and must continue to maintain a strong work ethic to produce the best quality show we can before SMBF. 

Only after a band qualifies for State Marching Band Finals are they allowed to schedule and request a performance time.  It is not a guarantee until the last week of the season, but I have requested October 26th at Hilliard Bradley.  I will not receive confirmation of our date and time until the last week of district OMEA competitions (late October). 

"Give Back" Charity Event
After looking at the calendar there isn't a free Saturday this fall to do a traditional performance at our local McDonalds to raise money for the RMHC.  This has happened a few times before in the past.  Ultimately what we end up doing is a consumable products drive before our holiday concert.  This mostly consists of basic items needed in the house.  Toilet paper, paper towels, tooth brushes, etc.  All things that you already might have in your pantries at home.   

Another option would be to support an organization that is near to my own heart.  The Stowe Mission is an organization that provides essential care to those less fortunate.  Their services include: soup kitchen, food pantry, community closet, dental care, vision care and so much more.  The Stowe Mission is funded by local churches and the "Brighter Day" Foundation, a foundation created by professional golfer, Jason Day. 

For the purposes of fulfilling our charity goals we could provide children's toys for Mission's annual holiday gift giving event.  Which allows families in need from Columbus to give Christmas gifts during a time when many must choose between bills or gifts.  Our NHS chapter here at Pickerington Central has been making nearly 100 blankets each year for the last 3 years for this event and are always the first item to run out at the toy drive.  

Talk to your booster officers to voice your opinion on how to support families this year.  If there are other Pickerington organizations similar to RMHC or the Stowe Mission, let us know!  We should support our own community first.  

Timeline for Friday to Lancaster
Timeline
3:10 - Dress rehearsal
4:10 - Load/eat/change
5:20 - Load Busses
5:30 - Depart for LHS
6:15 - Arrive at LHS
7:00 - kick-off 

Pay to Participate Update
We are currently half way through the marching season and coincidentally we currently have a little over half the Marching Tiger families that are in "good standing" with PLSD's Pay-to-Participate fee. I've said this before but it never hurts to read it again, Pay-to-Participate is NOT the band booster dues.  PTP is a District office class fee used to maintain/replace/replenish uniforms. It is not for dry cleaning, dry cleaning is a booster expense, and a big one at that.  The fee also covers transportation costs for the band.  You see those fees at work when the Tiger Band trailer is rolling down the highway, when Mr Knapp is unloading the box trucks and when the band cruises to each performance in the luxurious yellow limousines! 

It is important to pay these fees as soon as possible as the district depend on these funds to keep the band rolling.  If you are in need of financial assistance, please email me and I can assist you in acquiring the correct forms for fee reduction or get you in contact with the correct people to set up a payment plan.  

Parent Volunteers for Friday's away game
Nurse - Melissa Wyatt
Emily Haverfield
Mike Osterlink
Melissa Osterlink
Lisa Mezquita 
Josh Warmund
Chris Mirakian 

Good Morning Marching Tiger families,


It is Band Fest week! There are many things to cover in this FYI, if there is information about this weekend you can not find, please feel free to email me directly for student related things or Emily Haverfield for Band Fest/volunteering related questions.  

Pickerington Band Festival 
Our home show is this Saturday at PHSN.  Please invite your family and friends to attend and support the Marching Tigers.  The booster clubs have been working very hard to organize a great show.  If you get a chance, please say thank you to a Tiger or Panther Booster.  This is a time consuming project, both clubs have done a great job collaborating.  Not all booster clubs in town work as well together as our two band booster clubs. 

Uniforms For Friday and Saturday
Friday night is purple pants and black socks.  We did a great job with uniform socks last Friday. Let's get it right this week too!

​Saturday we will be wearing our competition white pants.  This impacts a few details regarding uniform.  Sock must be all white and students should wear neutral colored shorts under their uniform.  Students need to continue to wear their show shirts for the season.  
 As with every performance, students aren't permitted to wear hooped or colored ear rings of any kind when in uniform.  Small ear rings are acceptable.  Students must remove all bracelets and fingernail polish that is not neutral in color.

Transportation
The most important bit of parent information on Saturday night is transportation for the band is "one-way".  Parents must pick-up their student at Pickerington NORTH at the end of the contest. This serves multiple functions, it encourages parents to come and support their child/children and saves money in our transportation budget.  The band room will be open after the show if students want to return instruments that night.  Students who use the trailer to transport instrument back to Central and/or are responsible for any form of logistics are required to return to help unload.  Non-Logistics crew and students with the ability to transport instruments home are welcome to do so.  Just don't forget your cases! 

Ticket sales and booster help
Tickets for the event are $12 per person.  However, the boosters are still in need of additional volunteers. If you consider that volunteers get free admission and parents need to pick-up their child after the contest, it only makes sense for you to volunteer TODAY!   It will cost $0 to help the band, see the show and pick-up your child!  ​See the link for tickets and band guide volunteers below. 

Friday Timeline
3:10-4:10 Dress rehearsal in Tiger stadium
5:15 - Band room opens
5:45 - Meet at Flagpoles in uniform 
6:20 - March to stadium
6:30 - Athletic Hall of Fame announcement (we need to be in the stadium before this)
6:45 - Begin Pregame
7:00 - Kick-off 

Saturday Timeline
12:00 - Band room opens
12:30 - Dress rehearsal in Tiger Stadium
2:00 - Load Equipment and dismiss for dinner/volunteer at Band fest
5:00 - Band room opens
5:30 - Depart for North HS
6:00 - Arrive and unload 
6:55 - Warm-up 
8:00 - Perform at Pick Band Fest
8:45 -  Pickerington Marching Band and Alumni Performance
8:55 - Awards 
TBD - Dismiss after awards, load and report to Central to unload. 

Parent Volunteers for Friday
Nurse:
Kelly Long

Field Help:
Bridget McGeorge 
Chris Mirakian
Jennifer Dryer
Barb Gilbert
Erica Matthews
Lisa Mezquita
Joy Shaw ​

Parent Volunteers for Saturday
Sarah Hurst-Pelfrey
James Pelfrey
Chris Mirakian 
Jennifer Dryer
Julie Browfield 
Josh Warmund
Heather Edwards
Natalie Matney 

Good Morning Marching Tiger Families, 

Thank you all for being flexible with last Friday's weather delay.  The band had a great time and the weather was great after the storm rolled through.  

This Friday is our first away game, as parent and student this simply means our game day routine/pre planning needs to be streamlined.  There won't be time to run home to get snacks/change/run to Circle K.  Students need to bring their uniform pieces and items for the bus trip to school that morning.  Away games are long days... 

Band Fest Tickets
Due to this being our 50th anniversary of the Pickerington Band Festival we are expecting a sell out!  Tickets links have been floating around for a few days and we have already sold quite a bit of tickets for the event.  Please plan ahead and purchase your tickets today, as the link will be shared with other participating schools tomorrow!   Click the button below and use code:PickBandFam to get early access. 

​
​Bus assignments & Expectations
I will post bus sign-ups today in class, students are to select their bus wisely.  We will not be bus hopping or changing buses mid season.  This is your assigned bus for the duration of Marching Band. 

Students are more than welcome to bring their headphones, this is encouraged as bluetooth speakers or cell phone speakers are not allowed to be used on the buses.  Yelling and shouting profanities are also not permitted.   Technically Petermann (the bus company) has a no food policy, most drivers understand the circumstances, please listen to your driver and be wise about what you might pack as a quick snack.  (Don't make messes and clean up after yourself) 

If you forget anything on the bus at the end of the night, the directors have no control over the bus company.  Students and families will have to contact Petermann to make plans to recover lost items. 

We are guests of Petermann while in transit, we all must abide by their rules and regulations. 

Uniform update
The uniform mom's have done a great job helping students learn how to fold and hang uniforms correctly! (you might not understand how much of an accomplishment for some of our members, but it is!)  The current issues we face regarding uniforms involves hair dye and face paint.  Face paint is not permitted when in uniform. It gets on hands which then touch the uniforms and stains the jackets and white portions of our uniforms.  Hair dye is also getting transferred onto the uniforms around the neck.  If you have long hair and have hair dye, this must be addressed.  Wear a head band or if it is passed the jaw line your hair must be up anyway.  Please correct this for this week! 

Timeline
3:10 - Dress rehearsal
4:10 - Load/eat/change
5:10 - Load Busses
5:20 - Depart for LHS
6:15 - Arrive at LHS
7:00 - kick-off 

Volunteers
Nurses and bus chaperones are expected to ride the bus and will double as our field help at away games.  The lead chaperone and nurse are the only ones who must ride bus 1, all others are free to choose your bus. 

The dads who help load the equipment trucks are not required to ride the buses, but if they are an approved volunteer they are more than welcome to hop on an open bus.  

Chaperones will take attendance as students enter the bus and make sure the buses are cleared at the end of the night.  I will provide the rosters for each bus.  I only ask that you help with the head count for each bus as this is the information Petermann must have before pulling away. 

Truck load 
Chris Hartung
Chris Mirakian

Nurse
Melissa Wyatt

Travel with the Band & Field Help
Michael Osterlink
Melissa Osterlink
Emily Haverfield
Lisa Winters
Chris Mirakian
Josh Warmund
Anne Shreffler 

All, 

Thank you for a great week last week and being extremely flexible with the heat.  We ended up taking advantage of the time by making some huge gains on our 4th movement.  (only 1 short movement to go after the 4th)  Our goals this week are to get the band off the metronome for the game and learn drill up to the mid point of song 4.  

Today's FYI will cover 
- practice schedule
- uniform protocol change
- Friday timeline 
- Fees
- 3rd Quarter Food for this game only
- Parent volunteers. 

Practice Schedule
I have run into some conflicts with our schedule in the new stadium on Monday nights.  In July I was told there was only one Monday night conflict in the new stadium and that was it.  Fast forward to the start of school and we haven't been able to keep that schedule going...  With the uncertainty going week to week, I need to adjust for earlier sunsets on Mondays.  If we do get field time I will announce that change on Monday during school. 

After this week, practices will move up on Monday nights by 30 minutes.  We will start at 5:30 and end at 8:30.  There will be one additional time change later in the season.  I will adjust the rehearsal time back 30 minutes one more time later this season.  

Uniforms for Friday

We will wear our full Friday night uniforms for the North game.  Uniform inspections went fairly well week 1.  Here is a list of items to address in order to pass your uniform inspections. 

Please make sure your student is passing uniform inspections by:
- wearing clean white marching shoes
- clean, long black socks
- show shirt under the uniform
- hair up and in the hat (when the hat is on)
- neutral nail colors, ear rings/piercings and headbands (if you need a headband)
- clean white gloves (when required) 

Friday Night Timeline
3:10 - Dress rehearsal on turf field
4:10 - Dismiss.  Leave sound EQ and front ensemble on the field by the band stands.
5:00 - Band room opens 
5:45 - Report to flag poles in uniform 
6:00 - Warm-up and pep session. 
6:35 - Parade from Flag poles to (NEW) Tiger Stadium
6:50 - Pregame
7:00 - Kick-off

Pay to Participate Fee
As a reminder, this is a SCHOOL FEE from the district and not a booster fee.  The district's policy on unpaid district fees can result in your child not participating in marching band.  

I fully anticipate the district to enforce this policy this week.  Please make sure you are current on all school fees.  Especially the band PTP.

If you are experiencing financial hardship you may apply for payment plan options with the Athletic Office.  Feel free to email me with any questions regarding this matter.  

3rd Quarter Food
Due to the numbers expected for this game we will be serving pizza to both bands during the 3rd quarter of the game.  This is provided by the boosters. Kids will receive 2 slices of pizza and as much water as they need.  Sometimes the clubs include a cookie or snack, we will just have to wait and see!  If your child has a dietary concern and pizza needs to be substituted please contact myself or Mrs. Haverfield ASAP for planing purposes. 


Parent Volunteers for Friday
​Chris Mirakian
Jennifer Dryer 
Emily Haverfield 
Ronnie Winters
Theresa Garee
Joy Shaw
Barb Gilbert
Brittany Taylor 
Lisa Mezquita
Natalie Matney