We are a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization responsible for raising funds to enable our talented students to maximize their band experience.  The WCHS Band receives relatively little funding from the Board of Education and relies heavily on support from the community to continue its success.

As you are considering opportunities for your 2024-25 philanthropic giving, our program could certainly use your support to help offset the rising costs that occur for the band to represent our community.

Current fundraising activities include: 

• Kroger Community Rewards

• Community Sponsorships & SnapRaise

• Dine-2-Donate events

• Car Wash

Want to sponsor the band? Visit our Sponsor Information page for more details.
Is a one-time donation more appealing? Visit our Donate page for more details! 

Want to discuss an in-kind sponsorship opportunity? Email us at fundraising@woodfordbands.org.

Why should you support the students in the Woodford Co Bands programs? 

We have heard that playing an instrument is great for your brain. It is a total brain workout! Depending on the instrument, each hand may doing something different. In the case of marching arts, you are playing your instrument, moving across the field, doing some choreography, and in many cases - all of the above! 

There are many skills and valuable lessons that our students learn during their time in Woodford County Bands.

1. Family  

Band provides another environment and family atmosphere for band members to lean on.

There will be ups and downs as with any family, but band provides its members with a unique habitat of students that will support them during both good times and bad. For our underclassmen, there are many upperclassmen to learn from who have been through what they will experience. Our upperclassmen will learn to develop leadership skills and give back to others in the way someone gave to them.

2. Camaraderie in the joy of music making  

While the band members and staff work very hard, we also enjoy one another's  company on a daily basis as we make great music and share our musical gifts with others. 

Our primary goal as musicians is to entertain and share great music with our audience. Whether it is playing stand tunes at the football game to fire up the crowd, performing our unique and high energy competitive show at half time or competitions, jamming out with our jazz bands or percussion ensembles, or sharing passionate and sophisticated literature through our concert bands, there is no end to the wonderful music that we enjoy with one another. We strive to perform at the highest level, and there is great joy in doing what we do.

3. Self Confidence  

Band affords its members the opportunity to benefit enormously from participating on a team that breeds excellence. 

Each of our students are a part of the greater whole. We experience success and failure together, we learn how to handle ups and downs together, and most importantly band members can take pride in knowing that they contributed to something greater than themselves. Band also provides its members with a model of excellence that can boost their confidence in their own abilities in other classes or activities. Band members will learn that they really can accomplish goals with a clear plan and a high level of discipline, and will be able to tackle other projects outside of band with direction and purpose.

4. Commitment  

Band teaches the ability to follow through on commitment:  “I do what I say I will do, when I say I will do it, even if the mood I said it in has left me.”  

Band members learn by committing to a practice and performance schedule, accepting responsibility to complete a task, and making a promise to their teammates to see a task through to its conclusion. Participation in a team sport, and sticking it out when it isn’t always fun or the rewards aren’t always tangible in the moment, is a lesson that benefits band members far beyond the music classroom.

5. Conflict Resolution  

With a team as big as ours, conflicts are bound to happen. Band members will face conflict in their lives - within their families, with friends, with superiors - and they will also have to learn how to deal and work with people they just plain don’t like. 

Learning to work through these challenges is a unique opportunity posed through participating in a large team sport. Band members will not just “learn concepts” of conflict resolution, but will practice them through the course of their season. They will gain valuable coping skills, both in learning how to “blow off steam” productively and also in how to resolve disputes as they arise.

6. Giving up electronic distractions

Things like cell phones and video games are fun but they can easily become a detriment to productivity. 

Facebook, social media, video games, television, and other activities are often more fun than the “to-do” list, and band will help its members learn the importance of giving up (or at least reducing) unnecessary distractions and prioritizing.

7. Life is not fair, nor is it always fun  

Despite our best efforts, sometimes life isn’t fair and it most definitely isn't  always fun. Learning how to handle disappointment as well as develop systems for dealing with disappointment is an important part of being in band. 

We won’t win every competition, band members won’t win every chair test, and sometimes they will do everything to the best of their abilities ... and things still won’t go their way. Learning how to bounce back from these disappointments will benefit them long beyond their time wearing a band uniform.

8. There is always a "faster gun"     

No matter how good you are, there is almost always a "faster gun”.  There is almost always someone better.  Band is inherently competitive, and in the competitive world, many strive to be at the top. Learning how to handle the fact that you will not win every competition, and you will not always be the best is an important skill. 

Whether it is through competition in marching band, chair tests, or the honor band audition process, band shows you that striving for personal excellence is a far more important goal than “first place.”  While it is always great fun to win or see our names at the top, students will discover that simply achieving personal goals can bring as much or more personal satisfaction, and we needn’t be discouraged or feel as though the only priority is to be the best.  And learning how to handle when we don’t end up on top teaches that the world will not end if we do not win, or if we aren’t number one in our class. We can celebrate the  accomplishments of others when they are doing well, just as we would want others to celebrate with us as we achieve goals.

9. Instant Gratification or Shortcut Patience  

"There is no shortcut to any place worth going."  This can be applied to playing a sport, mastering an instrument, or achieving high marks in the classroom. 

Each requires diligent study, focused practice, a high level of commitment, and patience. Band members will learn the level of dedication required to achieve excellence in any one skill. Music provides a wonderful outlet for this as it is something than can provide a great deal of enjoyment at all levels and can take the edge off the pursuit of excellence. However, the pursuit of excellence often comes with bumps in the road, and demands perseverance and patience. Farming, hunting, sports, sculpting, crafts, and music all can provide outlets for students to develop patience. In their jobs and pursuits some day, “slow and steady wins the race” will benefit them enormously over those who give up long before your band member will.

10. Workforce  

"The same people who never did their homework in high school are still doing that to this very day out in the real world."

The real world expects its employees to show up on time. It expects a certain level of discipline and follow through, and it expects that if an employee gets paid to do a job, they will do it. There are bosses, co-workers, data reports, and plenty of detractors and distractions. Employees who perform at a high level are promoted, those who do not perform well are demoted, and those who do not follow the rules or become complacent are replaced. Band is truly a microcosm of the "real world” and places real world expectations on its students that build character and teach independence. While some students are “intrinsically motivated,” others benefit greatly from the structure and discipline band provides.

11. Balancing Act   

It often seems like our band members who are involved in the most activities, AP classes, and top bands are also the kids who achieving the highest grades. Of course, high school will be different for each and every student.  Ultimately, learning how to balance the many requirements of school and band is no different than learning to balance a job, mortgage payments, taking the kids to activities, building in vacation or family time, and other skills that adults face in their daily lives.  While they are “just teenagers,” learning to balance on their own will prepare them as they head off to life after high school. College requires a high level of independence, and many college students either fail out after their first semester, or burn out under the stress of work. Band will provide students with tools to help overcome these stresses, and ensure they learn how much is possible in a day, and how to manage their time efficiently.

12. Rewards    

A great sense of joy and satisfaction comes from achieving goals either as an individual or as a team.  

Band members will be able to celebrate their victories at all levels. Whether it is simply overcoming the hurdle of checking off a single measure of music, achieving a personal victory they did not believe was ever possible, or learning the exuberance and exhilaration that comes from a team winning an event together - each victory is significant, and should push students to achieve even greater levels of success, perpetuating the cycle of "Work-->Good-->Fun"

Sometimes, the greatest rewards are those that come from gaining strength through failure or realizing that the sun will indeed come up tomorrow, and you get a fresh chance with each time you start over at something. These rewards become even sweeter the older our students get, and they learn how to truly cherish the rewards of hard work heading into college and the real world.

By the Numbers

We know band kids tend to do well in school and on standardized tests.  Here's how our WCHS band kids have stacked up to their peers on the ACT

ACT Scores

State Average:  19

WCHS Average:  20.7

National Average:  20.8

WCHS Band 11-12th Grade Average:  24.9

WCHS Band All-District Musician Average:   26.8

WCHS Band All-State Musician Average:  29.5