This One Time, At Band Camp...

Last weekend I received an email from UNC's Director of Bands, Jeff Fuchs, with the sad news that Carolina's band camp was going to run a bit differently this year. No instruments would be played on the field (other than percussion), and they were working hard to make this annual tradition (a) happen anyway and (b) do what they could to do it safely and (c) have some fun. There were subsequently a list of students and email addresses that we Marching Tar Heel Alumni could contact for a quick note of encouragement, as you can imagine, students were disappointed.

As most of you know, I'm an educator by trade, and as you may also know, we educators are up to our eyeballs in a myriad of preparations - especially when the semester begins early. So, my delay in attending to that email meant that I missed my chance to offer a personal note to students. Thankfully, I have this as an alternative forum and have decided to offer this open letter to this generation of Marching Tar Heels - the Pride of the ACC.

This one time, over two decades ago, at band camp, I found my people. 

I went to high school in a small town (one of about 100 graduates), and I entered Carolina's sprawling campus overwhelmed and intimidated by the intellect, history, challenge, and big-ness that surrounded every part of me. I lived at the top of a 10-story residence hall, filled with hundreds and hundreds of new students, from places near and far, who were also the smartest kids in their schools, and who probably knew much more about the world than I did. I knew about 3 people really well, and could recognize faces of about 10 others. But really, despite the comfort of my dorm room, those first days at Carolina proved to be kind of lonely. And then I went to band camp.

I had always found community in music, and that was certainly the case for me in high school. Some of my best memories come from hot or cold Friday and Saturday nights on hard aluminum bleachers, huddled with your friends, and waiting until your time to take the field. We were a small group of dedicated nerds, but we had fun and were (I would like to think) an important part of that small town's larger community.

When I got to college, one of the 3 people I knew well was in the Marching Tar Heels, so I mustered up the confidence to audition, and took my post among the clarinets somewhere in the back corner of the field (that's where we always ended up!). What I didn't know at the time, when I was consumed about memorizing Hark the Sound, or knowing all the proper call signs for what to play next, or trying to remember where my next step should be, or how to fit in practice 3 times a week, plus game days... What I didn't know then was what was to come.

I didn't know that 25+ years later...

• I'd still palpably remember the chills that I got right before we ran onto the field for that first football game and the ROAR of the crowd.
• I'd still count people on that field as the best of friends, and that the people with me contained an endless number of stories... some with pulsating laughter, and some that bring me to tears, even now. 
• That the first thing I think about when I hear Jungle Love or 25 Or 6 To 4 or West Side Story or Gimme Some Lovin' are my best memories with the band.
• I've never been wetter in my life than in that one game against Florida State in 1994.
• That Throw Down in front of Wilson Library is, hands down, the best way to ever start a Saturday Game Day.
• I'd be married to a trumpet player who was standing across the field, with a name I couldn't pronounce, from a state I'd never been to.

All these years later, with two more degrees, and 20 years as a higher education professional, a lot of what I know about what makes students successful comes from my membership in this illustrious group. 

College students need to be busy. As members of the MTH, expect to be busy. Assume that it's good for you, even when you're tired and overwhelmed and have to stay up way too late to finish that paper.

College students need to do things besides go to class. All students need distraction from their learning, and they need to be part of the community. I got both from the band, and it gave me opportunities to see beyond the door of 1019 Hinton James.

College students need good leadership. Jeff Fuchs came to Carolina when I was a student there. His good leadership and commitment to students remain. A true educator. But students had so many opportunities to lead. I thought they were so smart, and so comfortable - all that made me have confidence in myself.

College students need opportunities to work together. There's nothing quite as fulfilling as playing 1 small role in a group of 300, working together to create something beautiful. All reading from the same page and heading in the same direction. There are innumerable life lessons here.

College students need friends. Some of the best people I know started their course at Carolina on the field. Either with me, before me, or just after. We find ourselves in an array of different places in the world, in a variety of circumstances, and with growing families and futures. But, it kind of all feels like it started on that same hot day in August. On a field full of mosquitoes. As we all took that left-foot heel-toe step, one yard closer to what we would become.

For all you who start this year a bit disappointed because it doesn't look like you might want it to, I'll just ask that you not forget the opportunity to look to your left and right. Look a few rows to the front or back. Listen to the ringing leftover sound of that final, quiet chord. Music and beauty and community - these are the priceless gems, and they still ring clear and true.

Go Heels.