Personal Narrative: Marching Band

First off, I am humbled to be considered for membership of the National Honor Society. In my opinion on the foundation of the four pillars of NHS the FPC NHS chapter will benefit from my membership because I will bring intellect, drive, leadership, character, dedication to serve my community, honesty, respect, pride, discipline, compassion and among many other qualities a sense of humor.

Marching band; copious amounts of people scoff at the sound of those words. I often hear students commenting on how easy marching band is, how we don’t train like the football players do. At Anderson High School, that’s not the case, the marching band trains for just as long. As a band of over 125 individuals, it takes determination, pride, and confidence to achieve the goals we have set forth to accomplish. As a leader of the saxophone section, I know what it’s like to face failure, to overcome and turn it into success and to march on with confidence. I know exactly how to motivate my underclassmen when they tell me “I can’t do this anymore.” Over the last four years, I have succeeded in leading my group of 13 saxophone players to two State

There are many reasons I believe I should be inducted into National Honors Society. First, I maintain an A grade average. Second, I am a leader in my school and community. Third, I am very active with actives in and out of school. These are all great qualities to have.

The four pillars of the National Honor Society consists of leadership, scholarship, service, and character. These characteristics must be possessed by an individual in order to be a member of the society. I believe that I possess all the these four qualities and should become a member of National Honor Society.

The skills I have been able to develope since joining the National Honor Society are skills that I will will use for the rest of my life. Before joining the National Honor Society I was a typically high school student who really did not care about anything around him. Since joining the NHS I have grown a new appreciation for everything around me. I have grown as a leader and a person and I have learned to have a new outlook on life.

I have always wanted to be a surgeon since I was a kid. Doctors were treated like gods in my home country, Ethiopia. I was a shy little boy who dreamt big in my neighborhood and people would make fun of my goal due to the fact that there were no doctors in our neighborhood. They believed that I was not smart and strong enough to be a doctor. Besides my mother and aunt, nobody knew what I was capable of. I could calculate two numbers in a second like the speed of light, I knew everything about the human body system and I could run. I always believed that if I was going to be a doctor I have to exercise and be healthy in order for people to listen and follow my path.

The band program taught me how to push through the difficulties and struggles that would allow me to become a better performer in the end, and taught me the importance of respect and courtesy, whether it be for volunteers with the band, my bandmates, other bands, and so on, and how far simple manners can go. Most importantly, though, this band taught me what it was like to be dedicated and passionate about something. In the past two years, I have developed a love for playing music that has given me more joy in life than anything else in the last four years, and due to that caused me to learn a new instrument, get more involved with our music program, created friendships and relationships that will last, allowed me to become a more rounded person, that is better equipped to handle my future. I have grown greatly in the last few years, and this is all due to the band program, which I will never be able to repay for all it has done for

My favorite activity was band. I was a member of the Pep Band, Jazz Band, Drumline, Marching Band, Musical Pit (Theatre Band), and Concert Band. I have also taken three solos to contest, and have used my talent in competitions. The most time consuming activity is Marching band, which is roughly 262 hours a season. Being in the marching band since I was in 8th grade, it comes out to be about 1,310 hours I’ve spent in marching band, not including time I’ve used during school. I had the privilege to be a Captain for two years to the front ensemble, one of the biggest sections in the band. This has helped me become more responsible for myself and those who rely on me, as well as more welcoming to others.

As a student of the DuBois Area High School, I think I have the motivation and academic accomplishments needed to receive the Big 33 Scholarship. My family is also in a tight budget so they can provide for my sister and me. My father currently works at DuBois Logistics as a laborer while my mother works at a Sheetz as a salesperson. I also work at a Sheetz in order to save money for college in the future and any other financial needs.

“You only fail when you stop trying.” It is early in my seventh grade year. I play trumpet in and out of school. Marching band is one of my favorite types of musical performances. My friends and my sister have also been in band and enjoyed it for a couple years as well. In middle September we had our first marching band parade. When our first parade rolls around we feel like we have practiced as much as we could.

As an active member in both my school and community I have taken part in many extracurricular activities and received many honors. I find it to be very important to live my life in a way that I am able to reach my fullest potential while giving back to others at the same time.

Throughout high school, I have involved myself with various activities, both curricular and extracurricular. As a member of National Honor Society (NHS), I participate in numerous public service events. Some of which include volunteering at Springdale’s annual Strawberry Festival, Senior Citizen Brunch and Street Fair amongst a variety of school functions such as Education Celebration and our recent Job Fair. Through NHS, I also tutor other students in the High School as well as students of any age in the district at the Springdale Public Library. Outside from NHS, I have volunteered at a variety of places. Due to my passion for soccer, I have served as a soccer camp coach for QuickSkills Soccer Camp, and am currently volunteer assistant coaching

Presently, High School has been changing point before going to college and beginning my dream. Before my breaking point I need one more step. I required the doubt to decide if I would be joining an extra curriculum activity, demanding decision for a freshman to make before even meeting my teachers. A month before I started school, my brother convinced me to join the Hawthorne High School Band and Color Guard. I meet the band director Mr. Hughes, who has always believed I had a talent and did his best to polish my color guard skills year by year to be the outstanding person he sees. By junior year I was designing choreographies for my team, corresponding then as their captain, their leader. I did not complete the year there. Opposite to Hawthorne,

For many years I have been known for being a very talented athlete. But what many people do not know is that I was once in the Elba Marching band. Being in the band has taught me a lot of things, like reading music, discipline and organization. The most interesting thing about the band was that we had to learn how to read music. At first this was a challenge for me, but I soon got the hang of it.

My second community engagement was going to the NAMI walk in Orange County. NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness it is one of the largest non-profit organizations that is dedicated to create better lives for people suffering mental illness. NAMI works with the community to raise awareness and provide support and educate with people in need. The organization also conducts many public events and activities to raise money and to create awareness. For example, some of the events are Mental Illness Awareness week and NAMI walk.