Alumni Band Newsletter
UNR Alumni Band
Alumni Band Newsletter March 2012
Dear Band Alums,
Clearly, the term “March” is used loosely here. Those of you just ending or starting your spring break will understand that it takes precedence over many other commitments in your life. I hope everyone had/has an enjoyable break from school (my apologies to those of you who no longer experience spring break).
Homecoming 2012
While the football schedule is finalized, the date for Homecoming 2012 has not yet been announced. Here is the football schedule:
Sept. 1 at Cal
Sept. 8 vs. South Florida
Sept. 15 vs. Northwestern State
Sept. 22 at Hawai`i
Sept. 29 at Texas State
Oct. 6 vs. Wyoming
Oct. 13 at UNLV
Oct. 20 vs. San Diego State
Oct. 27 at Air Force
Nov. 3 Bye
Nov. 10 vs. Fresno State
Nov. 17 at New Mexico
Nov. 24 vs. Boise State
If I were to guess, I would say October 20th against San Diego State, but that it purely just a guess. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.
A Message from the Director
Dr. Plenk has offered to submit an update for us each month. I hope you appreciate it as much as I do:
With the
basketball season at a close (we ended our year with a band trip to the
Stanford game!), we are about to kick things into high gear in preparation for
the fall! In the next few weeks we will be assembling our 2012-2013 student
leadership team, bringing on a new color guard instructor and drum line
teaching assistant, and making some decisions about show concepts. Recruiting
efforts have been under way for a while now. Between Mack and myself, we have
visited 36 high schools in Nevada. We are also mailing recruiting posters to
120 schools in Nevada and California, and we will be mailing recruiting
postcards to every freshman that has been admitted to the University of Nevada
as of mid-May – around 4,000 total! With all of these efforts, I am
anticipating another size increase for the Wolf Pack Marching Band, hopefully
putting us in the 150-175 range.
Other exciting things that are happening right now include a significant
increase to our scholarship allotment thanks to the 8% tuition increase and the
support of Interim President Johnson. We are also purchasing 12 new mellophones
(I apologize to any of you who LOVE the old Bb horns…) as well as some sound
equipment that will greatly increase our rehearsal efficiency.
There is a lot to be optimistic about with the band right now, but of course we
still have challenges to surmount and goals to strive towards. Among these are
traveling to the UNLV football game this fall (We do not have the money yet,
but it could still happen), purchasing new instruments (If recruiting goes as
well as I think it will, we could RUN OUT OF INSTRUMENTS!!), purchasing new
uniforms (The current ones are OLD. The new design is almost finished. They
will be EXPENSIVE), building a website (We are WAY behind the ball here. Hoping
to get one up and running during the summer), and hiring more staff (We need
quality instructors ON the field to take our performances to the next level).
Thank you all for your ongoing support of the band.
See you at homecoming! …The date should be set soon.
All My Best,
Will Plenk
Band Booster Meeting
The regular meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 10, will likely be postponed. I will post a new date on Facebook as soon as I have it, along with the information on how to attend ‘virtually.’ If you are not on Facebook and would like me to email you the updated information, email me and I will.
Upcoming Events
I am always happy to include information about upcoming events in the newsletter. If you, you family, your students, etc. are having a concert, play, or such, please email me the information. If it is time sensitive, please use the kia...@hotmail.com email.
Nevada Gay Men’s Chorus presents Music of the STAGE & SCREEN
Friday, May 4 at 7:30pm at Trinity Episcopal Church- Reno, NV
The Green Bay Symphony Orchestra:
Saturday, April 14 - The Magical Music of Disney
Music from Lion King, Mary Poppins, Tarzan and Beauty & the Beast!
Donato Cabrera, Conductor www.greenbaysymphony.org
Member Updates
Congratulations to Jason Trim (and Noel Derbyshire Trim) for passing all the tests to become a PGA Golf Professional. While he did the test passing, she did the kid wrangling and fort holding down so he could. Hooray for you both!
Congratulations to Steve Becraft and his wife, Laura Storm, on the birth of their daughter, Carolyn Elizabeth Becraft on March 14, 2012! Band blessings to the three of you!
Our deepest condolences to Cheri Stingley Staton and Douglas “Skip” Staton on the sudden passing of Cheri’s sister, Becky Stingley Easley. Our thoughts and prayers are with Cheri and her family.
As always, PLEASE send me your updates, concert dates, ideas for homecoming, your friend’s updates, your good news, or your sad news. Save me from a life as a Facebook stalker.
Happy Passover and Easter to all that celebrate! David Chain wished me a million pieces gefilte fish for my birthday. I’ll shareJ
Kiara