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My name is Amanda Drinkwater
from Flower Mound, Texas. I'm the band director at Marcus High School.
Texas is a long way away from Ball State University
I actually attended the BOA summer camp, back when it was Marching Bands of
America in Whitewater, Wisconsin
when I was in high school, so this camp is near and dear to my heart.
I think the really unique thing about
this camp is the ability to connect with students and directors from
programs across the country and it enables you and
us and all of us to sort of appreciate what it is that we have in our
communities
and recognize our strengths where we may have them and
also recognize areas we have for need of improvement
and you don't get that kind of connection just staying in your own communities.
So it's really wonderful to network and connect with people that are also coming
a long way
from home to network here at the BOA Summer Symposium.
I would really recommend this program for
student leaders, for band directors,
anyone affiliated with a scholastic music program. It's such an incredible way
to learn about developing a culture of excellence in your
band, choir, orchestra program. It's such a wonderful way for kids to connect
and for them to
grow in their interpersonal skills and their musical skills. It's just fantastic.
I was really blown away last year after the summer camp when
a couple of students from a program contacted me well after the fact
a few months later and they talked about some of the changes that they brought to
their program at home
from one of the sessions that they had had here at the summer symposium.
And I was very touched that they had actually thought enough
to implement the things we had talked about doing and that they took the
time to reach out and
connect and let me know that it had been effective in their programs. It was
very touching
and exhilarating and very fulfilling to think that
something we had done at band camp had been helpful to them
and their home programs.