May 12, 2024 Band Notes

Upcoming Events

Monday, May 13

• Uniform Fittings - Make-Up Date 5-8pm; HS Music Entrance

Tuesday, May 14

• Marching Band Leadership Meeting 2:45-4:00pm; HS Band Room (Leadership team only)
• Color Guard Inventory Day 4:30pm-6:30pm; HS Guard Room

Wednesday, May 15

• Color Guard Rehearsal 6-9pm; MMS Arena

Friday, May 17

• Marching Band Movement Clinic 5-9pm; MMS Arena & MMS Aux Gym

Saturday, May 18

• Marching Band Movement Clinic 9am-4pm; MMS Arena & MMS Aux Gym
• Medication Drop-Off for Mini Band Camp 3-4pm (sign up in BoosterHub); MMS Arena Entrance

Sunday, May 19

• Graduation; Cintas Center (next year’s Wind Symphony - see details here)

Future planned events can be found on the updated band calendar: Mason Band Calendar

Parent To Do Checklist For This Week

1. 2024 Marching Band Students And Parents (Including Incoming Freshmen) Please review the additional next steps for Marching Band found at the bottom of the band notes. Note: The due date for the Final Forms related steps has been extended.
2. Sign up for a medication drop off time if your student needs medication during Mini Band Camp. (Details Below)
3. Graduating Seniors- Please click on the following link for instructions on submitting information for Social Media Shout Outs.
4. Rising Seniors - Schedule your senior photo session and order prints and other items here.

NEW INFORMATION

Uniform Fittings - Additional Night

Thank you to everyone who has come in for their fittings or emailed with conflicts to work on a different sign up time! 

We have one last opportunity to catch anyone who was unavailable for any reason. Monday, May 13 we will again be in the Guitar Room at the High School from 5:30-7pm. Please go to Booster Hub or click the link below to sign up. If you still are unable to make it, please reach out to the Uniform Crew for alternate options at uniforms@masonbandboosters.com.

Senior Photos - New Information

Rising seniors–get ready for your larger-than-life close up! This means get your hair trimmed if you need it, consider carefully before any experimental makeovers, and do your best not to get sunburned the week before!

Senior Photos this year will be on Monday, June 3 from 5-8 pm at the high school.

Sign-ups and order forms are now live at https://form.jotform.com/Masonbands/2024-20marching-band-senior-banners.

Note: You will schedule your time slot directly in the Jotform - there is NO BoosterHub sign-up for senior band pictures.

When selecting your time, keep in mind that you need to arrive twenty minutes prior to your appointment to pick up your uniform and change.

Mini Band Camp - New Information

Mini Band Camp will be taking place June 3rd-7th. This is for all incoming Freshman through rising Seniors who will be in the Marching Band for the 2024 Season. Note: Monday, June 3 will only be for the Leadership Team - full band reports on Tuesday, June 4.

Please see the MINI CAMP GUIDEBOOK for detailed schedules, important deadlines, and form & fee requirements for participation, and much more! This guidebook will be updated with more information as we get closer to June!

Family Picnic and Volunteer Fair

We will be having our annual Family Night the evening of Friday, June 7th, to close out Mini Band Camp. This will start at 5 pm in the Auditorium for a parent meeting and show reveal. We will then move outside to the Bus Circle for the Volunteer Fair, picnic, and the Marching Band’s first performance! See the Mini Camp Guidebook linked above for more information. Details on food preorders coming soon.

Snack Donations Still Needed

Marching is hard work!  Please sign up to donate snack items to keep our hard working marchers energized! No time to shop?  That's OK, you can sign up to donate funds to be used to help purchase snacks for the band.  Items may be dropped off at the beginning of mini camp. 

Please sign up to donate HERE or go directly to the BoosterHub App. Please see the BOOSTERHUB GUIDE for directions on how to sign up to volunteer. (A link to make a monetary donation will be added to BoosterHub in the near future.) NOTE: Even though the button in BoosterHub says “Volunteer”, this sign-up is for dropping off medications.

Questions?- Please reach out to Melissa Woodward at vp-studentexperience @masonbandboosters.com

Medication for Mini Band Camp

All medication and DMS forms from the 2023/24 school year are considered valid until the end of Mini Camp on June 7, 2024. This means all medication previously turned in and still remaining with the band as well as approved OTC medication will be available for your student during Mini Camp. All medication from 2023-24 must be picked up by the end of Mini Camp or it will be discarded. 

Medication for Mini Band Camp may be dropped off on either Saturday, May 18th from 3-4pm or Wednesday, May 22nd from 7:00- 8:30pm. The Medical Secretary and Band Aid team will have a table set up inside the entrance of the Mason MIDDLE School ARENA ENTRANCE for medication drop-off. The care team will be able to answer any questions and walk you through any documentation needs to ensure that the medication needs for your student will be met this upcoming marching band season. Remember to upload all DMS forms HERE prior to bringing medication to check in. Please also carefully read the Policy and review all of the information about how we manage medication on MasonBands.com in advance. You will need to prepare your student’s medication with a completed med insert card placed in a ziploc bag with their medication following the instructions in our Medication Check-in Guide. 

Sign up HERE or go directly to the BoosterHub App to sign up for a time to drop off medication for your student. Directions on how to sign up in BoosterHub can be found  HERE. PLEASE NOTE: Even though the button in BoosterHub says “Volunteer”, this sign-up is for dropping off medications. 

If you have any questions or need to make an alternate drop off appointment, email medicalsecretary@masonbandboosters.com

Attention Volunteers - New Background Check Policy

There is a new background check policy for volunteers this season that applies to some of our volunteer committees (primarily chaperones). 

An extended background check is now required for volunteers as follows:

• Anyone traveling off campus with the band (chaperones)
• Anyone who might work with students outside of direct supervision (UCrew, Pt Crew, Guard Volunteers)

Note: This only applies to the committee volunteers mentioned above - people volunteering for one-off slots on campus (e.g., Feed the Band, Invitational, Flower Sale, etc.) do not need a background check.

To initiate your extended background check, you will need to make an appointment with Sarah Jo Tewksbury at the Central Office Building. She is available Monday-Friday 7:30am-3:30pm. Click here to sign up. If none of the timeframes work for you, please email Sarah Jo at tewksburys@masonohioschools.com with a few days and time frames that work for you and she will get you scheduled.

Information you'll need to know for your appointment:

* What to bring:  Your driver's license and social security number (do not need to bring the card).

* Cost:  The cost is $50.00.  We accept credit card, cash or check (made out to Mason City Schools).

* Where to go:   You'll come to the Central Office Building (address in signature line) and look for the "Main Entrance" sign.  Turn left once inside the doors, another left at the end of the hallway and the HR office is the last door on your left (3 lefts).  

Note: Extended background checks are valid for 5 years. If you have had one in the past 5 years, you do not need to do a new one at this time.

If you are not sure if you need an extended background check for your position, or do not know if a previous extended background check has expired, please reach out to Melissa at vp-studentexperience@masonbandboosters.com.

For questions about the extended background check process, please email tewksburys@masonohioschools.com.

Want to Join Our Pit Crew?

We are looking for volunteers to join the Mason Bands Pit Crew. This role is perfect for anyone eager to support our students and be close to the action, no prior experience needed.  If having the opportunity to see the excitement on your child’s face up close as they walk of the field from a performance excites you, then the Pit Crew is for you.  By moving performance equipment, building props and loading trucks, you'll be right there with the whole band. For more information and to sign up, please visit our Pit Crew page and become an integral part of our band community.

Thank You to Booster Closet Cleanup Volunteers!

A huge thank you to our volunteers who put in a hard day’s work getting our booster closet and storage room cleaned out and organized! Getting ready for a new season is no easy task, and they knocked it out of the park! Thank you for your time and effort!

Social Media Reminders

We are so excited for our upcoming season, and proud of our students who are already hard at work! Our early start meant that our show theme and other information was revealed to students earlier than usual. All our students have been made aware that they are not to share any of this information, but our new parents might not have heard this yet.

It is very important that you do not post any videos of the band on public websites (YouTube) or social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) at this time. This also includes pictures of the props, competition uniforms, and show art. This is particularly important for our competition show in order to maintain competitive integrity and for copyright reasons. We want the audience and judges to see our show for the first time at competitions, so that they can enjoy the hard work of our students in a live setting. You are more than welcome to capture your own videos and share with family using a “private” link or message.

Skyline Dine and Donate - Save the Date

Our next Dine and Donate event will be at Skyline Chili on Wednesday, June 12th.  Bring the flyer and the band receives 15% of the proceeds. The flyer must be presented at the checkout.

When: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 from 11am-10pm 

Where: Skyline Chili located at: 5214 Bardes Rd., Mason, OH 45040 (this location only)

REMINDERS

Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health awareness month and it was also Jake’s birthday month! This year Jake would have been 25! The Langbein family would like to challenge everyone to donate $22 in honor of Jake’s birthday and his forever being 22. Mason Band is proud to be partnering with the Jake Langbein memorial fund to continue to promote mental health awareness and training for students and staff! For information on how you can help, go to https://www.masonbands.com/support-mason-band/jacob-langbein-memorial/

Please be sure and spread the word to alumni friends and family! Thank you to the Langbein family for your continued efforts to positively impact the students and staff in our program.

BoosterHub FAQs

With the upcoming season getting under way and people using BoosterHub more regularly, we are getting some great questions, particularly on “volunteer” sign-ups. We recognize that BoosterHub is very different from Charms, so we are all going through a learning curve. Hopefully sharing information from questions we’ve gotten so far will help everyone.

1. Why don’t volunteer links take me directly to the event?

BoosterHub does not currently have a way to link directly to an event for volunteer sign-up, so all links are to the general volunteer page. You will need to find the event you are signing up for once you are on that page or in that area of the mobile app. We recognize that this is currently a long list with the way BoosterHub displays it - we are looking into whether there is a way to make this more user-friendly.

UPDATE: Both the browser and the mobile app allow you to filter events and search events. To filter or search in the browser, use the fields at the top of the screen on the Volunteer page. To filter in the mobile app, click the blue, circular filter button at bottom center. To search in the mobile app, use the field at the top of the Volunteer screen. Note that in the mobile app, the Volunteer button is disabled for any opportunity where all slots are already filled.

2. Why are sign-ups a mix of students and parents?

Unlike in Charms, with BoosterHub, each parent has a separate login from their student. When signing up for a slot, the name of the person who was logging in is what will show on the slot. Thus, if a parent is signing their student up, the parent name will show. Same is true if a student signs their parent up for something - the student will show. Don’t worry, this is not a problem. If you have a different last name from the person you’re signing up, though, please put the person’s name in the comment field. 

3. Can I change my signup?

Yes! This is new with moving to BoosterHub - you can “unvolunteer” to remove yourself from a slot you previously signed up for as long as it is more than 24 hours out. After that you will need to email the event coordinator or BoosterHub admin to be removed.

4. If my student and I both are signing up, do I use two slots?

This depends. If you are just accompanying your student (e.g., freshman uniform fittings), or just signing up on their behalf, then no - you should only take one slot. If you are both volunteering for an event where students are eligible to volunteer as well, then yes - take two slots.

5. Why did I get a reminder for an event I didn’t sign up for?

It appears that BoosterHub reminders are for the event itself, and not tied to a sign-up. So reminders are sent to any members who are relevant based on tags (e.g., MB Brass 2024), regardless of whether you have volunteered. We are looking into options for this.

UPDATE: This has been corrected now. You should only receive reminders now for events you have signed up for.

6. Can I see sign-ups for family members?

The section that shows your sign-ups in BoosterHub does not show sign-ups for family members/linked members - it only shows your sign-ups. You can see who has signed up for any event by clicking on the event. In a browser, the people signed up will show in a panel on the right of the screen; in the mobile app, they show at the bottom (scroll down).

7. Why does the button and/or reminder email say "Volunteer"?

Unforutnately BoosterHub does not currently provide the ability to change the button label or email wording for sign-ups. Each sign-up opportunity will clearly state the purpose. Sign-ups such as Uniform Fittings or Snack Donations are NOT to volunteer. True volunteer opportunities typically start around Band Camp in July (e.g., Tag Day drivers).

We greatly appreciate how patient and proactive everyone has been! Keep the questions coming - we are here to help!

Attention 2024-2025 Wind Symphony Students

This document is for Wind Symphony students for the 2024-2025 school year. Here you will find information regarding the end of this school year in preparation for next year. There are two main items addressed within the document. 

1. Completion of the All-State Etudes as our 2nd/Progress check audition.
2. Graduation Band (May 19th) - Required for next year’s Wind Symphony (except current 8th graders) 

Marching Band Clinics

NEW MEMBER MARCHING CLINICS

NEW MEMBER MARCHING CLINICS INFO DOC

BRASS/WOODWIND/COLOR GUARD MOVEMENT CLINICS

MOVEMENT CLINIC GUIDEBOOK 2024

2024 Senior Plans

Attention Seniors!! We are still accepting slides! We would love for you to create a senior shoutout slide so our band family can celebrate you and your accomplishments! Please click here for instructions. Please submit as soon as possible. 

Interested In Becoming A Band Aid or Chaperone?

Interested in learning more about how to join our Chaperone and Band Aid Team? If so, please go to the Chaperone & Band Aid Information page. There you will find the comprehensive steps required in order to join in the important role of caring for our students and details on what each role entails.

First Steps

• Both Returning Chaperones & Band Aids as well as new volunteers who are interested should complete the form below.
  • Band Aid Interest Form
• Chaperone & Band Aid Training
  • Tuesday, May 21st at 7pm in the High School Harvard Room
• Complete an extended background check with the district (see above)

Memorial Day Parade

The marching band will be performing in Mason’s Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 27, Memorial Day Parade. The parade is for current 9th-12th grade band and guard members - rising freshman and new members do not march in this one.

• 9 am Report Time
• 10 am Parade starts
• 11 am Students are dismissed

Look for more details  next week.

2024 Marching Band Next Steps 

Marching Band Registration Next Steps

• 2024 Registration Guide
• Past Due
  • Get registered in BoosterHub, our new student database
    • All invitations have been sent. Please accept the invitation ASAP to allow us time to troubleshoot if there is a problem. (More details above.)
    • BOOSTERHUB GUIDE
  • Pay Consumable Fee to Mason Band Boosters. Payment links are now available. Please check to be sure you use the correct link depending on whether your student is an instrumentalist or in the Guard.
    • 2024 Instrumentalist Consumables Form Link
    • 2024 Color Guard Consumables Form Link
  • Complete Student Care Forms:
    • HWBP: Health And Wellbeing Profile
    • SCP: Student Care Plan and Upload SCP Electronically
    • DMS: Dispensing Medication at School and Upload DMS Electronically
• Due June 1 (Extension due to district shutting down access to Final Forms until May 15th.)
  • Review, Complete, and Digitally Sign all forms in FINAL FORMS.
    • Mason City Schools 2024-2025 Health & Medical Forms
    • Field Trip Permission Form, Tag Day Agreement, and Marching Band Handbook Agreement
  • Upload a current Physical (PPE) to FINAL FORMS.
    • PPE Form
  • Pay: $400 MB School Fee 2 to Mason City Schools via  EZPAY