As I look to begin my 13th year in the classroom I am more excited than ever. The summer activities have energized my teaching and I see so much potential for the best LHS Band ever. This isn't to say everything will be peachy, but there is a strong foundation and momentum to move forward. Here are some things to help you navigate the band policies throughout the year:

1) Attendance at band events is crucial. Students involved in other LHS activities must be proactive, creative and communicate conflicts ahead of time. The band handbook states 2 weeks notice so that teacher/coaches can resolve these conflicts. Not communicating only hurts the student and both teams.

2) Concert Band is 1st hour this year! Students must be diligent in showing up on time for their education. This applies for each class the student is enrolled.

3) The band is only as successful as the amount of effort applied by the entire team. Directors, Students and Parents comprise this team. Without all of these components working together the effort is a ton of work done by a few people. Dig in, volunteer and most importantly encourage your student to stay actively involved with the band and school.

4) Involvement in your band and school builds success, achievement, pride and tradition. I am a huge supporter of the great things that happen at Lincoln and can happen at Lincoln when the community is supportive. Great schools have supportive parents. No matter what your student says, get involved! Email their teachers, bookmark their web sites, check Power School regularly, attend conferences, volunteer, attend school events, hold your student accountable for their work. 

Have a successful year and I cannot wait to work with each student and their family. Do not be a stranger as I want to know the parents as well as their student. This partnership between classroom and family began a while ago and I look forward to working with you to strengthen the bond that will ensure success of your student not only in my classroom, but at Lincoln High School.

Ms. Schwegler

I cannot express enough how proud Ms. W and I are of the stellar work by our students. Thank you parents for your support and privilege of working with your family. Below are the the parents that were able to help out this week:

End of Day 3 and we are almost done with the second tune. 😄 Life is happy at sauk Valley!

Cleaning drill from yesterday and 3rd song is just about done! Mick Jagger, Beatles and Jackson 5 are sounding great! Can't wait for Elvis!

We have a show!

Camp is going very well this year! In 25 minutes the doors to the dining hall will open and we will being day 3. The band did have to practice the art of flexibility in the midst of a small thunderstorm. However, the students had the perfect opportunity to mark in their music before finishing out the day with an exciting march off. The seniors began their senior year with a special time at the bon fire bonding and burning marshmallows for some s'mores.

Ms. W, the Leadership Team, Staff and I are really impressed with the amount of enthusiasm the students are displaying. Spirit Day participation has increased tenfold and the section challenges are quite interesting.

Here are a few pictures that I was able to capture during some of our activities:

Parents and Students,

The students, parents and directors work very hard to put together performances for your enjoyment. The preparation of these performances teaches our students the value of a strong work ethic and commitment. Please understand that attendance serves many aspects to the value of education we are providing each student. There are many core values to instill with fulfilling the activities throughout the year.

Always check the calendar for band events. Most of our events are required and receive a grade. The policy for missing events can be found in the online handbook. Please read through the procedure, but do schedule personal events and appointments around these events. Missing one person does affect the team and overall performance.

We do understand that emergencies do happen such as a death in the family or contagious illness. The procedure for excusing those absences are in the online handbook.

Missing events can be excused or unexcused. Make up assignments can be assigned, but can never replace the actual integrity of the original assignment. Band is a unique class the has live performances. Written work will be assigned and awarded full or half credit based on the absence.

As a result of Symphonic Band's excellent Festival Performance all four adjudicators highly encouraged this ensemble to apply for the 2015 Michigan Music Conference. These comments are huge for our program! The application is underway, letters of recommendation from various adjudicators/clinicians have been sent, recording completed, etc. Just a few loose ends and it will be mailed in a couple of days. 

The next step is to wait if we are accepted. Either way, Ms. W and I are so proud of all the musical accomplishments of past, present and future members of the LHS Bands. This is a team effort! We will keep you posted this summer of the outcome.


**** Update****
Symphonic Band was not selected to perform for the 2015 Michigan Music Conference. However, we have an excellent group and will strive for another fabulous year of performances and apply for 2016! Go LHS Bands!

Bring $5 in by Friday for your rafting pictures. Here is a sneak peak...

There are so many aspects to our group traveling that will benefit your student way beyond their high school years:

Budgeting time and money

An appreciation of other geographical areas

Etiquette

History and culture

Perseverance (many of them wanted to quit the hike. They were glad they didn't)

Team work

Relationship building

Patience

Making decisions

Communication

Navigating a city

Tolerance

Sacrifice (Not having signals to their cell phones was shocking at first, but not missed once immersed in the activity at hand. This not only happened once, but many times throughout our trip.) 😉 A wonderful sight to see the group "unplugged" and really focused on something besides social media.

I am sure the list goes on. Feel free to add on to the list in the comment section!

Students were complimented every day from hotel staff! They cringed when the heard two bus loads of teenagers were going to embark on the property. The staff was thrilled to have us and was generous our entire stay.