Weekly Update (BOA Week!): 9/18-9/23

Good evening everyone. Please read all information regarding this week as well as important information regarding BOA. This is a very exciting upcoming weekend for our students, and we cannot wait to see them perform in a national competition. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

1. Tuesday/Thursday-Full Rehearsal from 6pm-9pm @MHS. At the conclusion of Thursday’s rehearsal, the truck will needed loaded for the weekend. 
2. Friday-Football game at Moon. Report time is 4:30 with a departure time of 4:45. For this game, students need to be wearing their blue “Mars Band” shirt that they wore at Meet the Planets under their uniform. This is so that they can wear their show shirts while they are watching performances at BOA the next day. Once we are done performing at halftime, we will load the truck and depart for Mars as soon as the game concludes. 
3. Saturday(BOA)-Please see all of the information below regarding the Bands of America Regional.
   1. Schedule-Attached is the itinerary for the BOA Regional, as well as the officialy Bands of America prelims/daily schedule. We will be traveling this day with coach busses.Students must arrrive no later than 8:45am on Saturday morning to ensure we can leave on time(or even early!).
   2. Uniforms-Please air out uniforms between Friday night and Saturday morning as best as possible. Prior to getting on the busses, students will have their uniforms checked to ensure all parts are with them. 
   3. Address-The location of the regional is at Fortress Obetz. The address is 2015 Recreation Trl, Obetz, OH 43207.
   4. Meals-both lunch and dinner will be provided for that day from the students payment for the regional. Penn Station will be their lunch, and pizza will be provided for dinner.
      1. If students would like to purchase additional food while they are there, they may. However, this venue is cashless. One way we have learned to help this situation is by using Visa giftcards. This helps in the event of cashless venues. 
   5. Souvenirs-There will be souvenir booths available at the event. Again, this may or may not be a cashless transaction. Please try and plan accordingly.  
   6. Miscellaneous-The following are some miscellaneous items regarding the regional
      1. The venue we will be at enforces a clear bag policy. Students can still bring their backpacks on the bus with them, but they unfortunately will not be able to bring them inside the stadium. Please plan accordingly.
      2. Weather in Ohio this time of year is much like Western PA, it is hit and miss. As we come up on the event, please check the weather for Obetz, Ohio to plan accordingly. 
      3. Students are permitted to bring their own water bottles/snacks for the bus ride to and from the regional.
      4. Once out of uniform for the day, students will be permitted to wear ‘street clothes.’ However, we are asking that students wear their show shirt while in the stadium. They will still wear their compression shirts under their uniform during performances.
      5. If you are planning on attending as a spectator, please know that the box office is also cashless. 
      6. If you cannot attend this event in person, but would still like to watch please read! All 2023 Bands of America Championships will be livestreamed on BOALIVE.TV, powered by BOX5 Media. Viewers can choose pay-per-view to watch one event or a subscription for the best value to watch the entire BOA season.

Let’s have a great week!

-Mr. Soose