Dear Parent,
My name is Jennifer Hargrove (Berg) and my son is a member of
the Racine Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. I would like to share with you
my experiences with the corps as a parent; in hope that you will consider
allowing your son or daughter to become a member of this fine group.
My son attends the Oneida Nation School, just west of Green Bay,
Wisconsin, a distance of 145 miles from Racine. His school music teacher
is also the manager for the Racine Scouts and she invited my son to go
to a camp for the corps last spring to see if this might be something he
would be interested in for the future. We understood from the outset that
there would be considerable travel involved just getting to and from
rehearsals in addition to traveling most of the summer; but my husband
and I felt that we needed to let Cayman check this out. Up to this point,
he had never been away from home for any extended time and I was very
concerned about him spending the weekend with people that I really
didn’t know much about.
My son was offered a spot in the horn line and really enjoyed himself. He
had to work very hard to keep up with the other students who had gone
through the entire winter program and several of the other kids involved
were much older than he was. Again, as a mom, I was concerned about>
my child spending almost an entire summer away from home but in the>
long (and short) run, the decision to allow him to participate was a good
one.
The students are very well supervised and stay together at all times while
in Racine. The Taylor Street facility is a wonderful place. It’s almost like
sending your child to an all summer music camp. My family was able to
travel to some of the area shows and we were also invited to stay at the
Taylor Home whenever we wanted. We did take advantage of this
opportunity and I was very impressed with the teaching staff and the
other corps members. They were respectful, polite and very hardworking.
What impressed me most was the number of skills my son was learning.
In addition to becoming a better brass player, he became responsible for
taking care of his own belongings, doing his laundry, budgeting his
spending money and doing chores around the facility. Most Importantly,
he learned about managing his time and being more responsible. When
he returned home each week, he always had many exciting things to tell
us. I became somewhat envious of the places that he was able to travel
to!
Our family plans to become more involved with the corps activity this
year. As a working parent; I am pleased to have my son involved with an
activity that provides a daily structured environment, physical activity
and allows him to have fun at the same time. My son really enjoys his
corps friends and has kept in touch with them since returning from tour
in August. He has certainly progressed as a player and also as a
responsible young adult. I encourage all parents to attend a weekend
rehearsal and see for yourself what a great opportunity this is for your
child. If you would like to ask specific parent-related questions, please contact
me at jhargrov@oneidanation.org
Sincerely,
Jennifer Hargrove
Green Bay, WI
