We begin today by first congratulating our students on an outstanding performance at Area yesterday! They finished ahead of 16 other bands at the large 29-band contest and were only a few bands from finals! As the smallest school present at the contest by enrollment, our students didn’t let that, or rain, slow them down! We are incredibly proud of them for ‘setting fire to the rain!’ 

We have two more weeks of marching season left, with a performance in exhibition at the 2A Area contest this weekend, and then we’ll compete at the Bands of America Super Regional Competition in San Antonio at the Alamodome the following Saturday morning at 9:15 am. I’ll give a more specific itinerary for that event next weekend! (Tickets are available from TicketMaster in advance or at the box that day.)

For this week, we are going to need an army of volunteers for the 2A Area Contest. 13 bands have advanced to this contest, so it’s nearly as many as our invitational, but longer because of the finals round in the evening. We will have a volunteer meeting at 10 am, and we need all student and adult volunteers to attend. The first band performs for prelims at 1:15 pm, and the final band performs at 4:30 pm. The Spirit of OHS will then perform at 4:45 pm in exhibition. We will then need to turn everything around to start the Finals, with the first performance at 7:30 pm and the Full Band retreat at 9:30 pm. Cleanup should be done by 11:00 pm. Adults, please sign up for a role here: https://tinyurl.com/26AreaVolunteer. Please note we need a larger crew for t-shirts this year. For each adult who volunteers at the t-shirt booth, the company donates a per-hour fee to the boosters! UIL’s Schedule is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rtK1qNKPLciLSbeuRT8X6VryKiX_hKME/view?usp=sharing

We recognize it’s Halloween, so students after their performance may wear an appropriate/tasteful costume for the remainder of the contest. We do need all students and parents to help throughout the day. Please make sure students are present! This is a mandatory event for them!

The night before, Friday, we will hold our Senior Band Student Recognition before the game. Parents, please meet Mr. Williams by the band side entrance gate by 6:45 pm to prepare and begin when the team heads to the locker room. I will send out the senior students their sheets for being announced later today. 

We’re in the home stretch of the season here; please help us ensure we continue to have students in attendance at all rehearsals and events! 

This Week’s Schedule

Monday:	HS Band Evening Rehearsal	6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Tuesday:	Band Hall Open until 4:30 pm
Wednesday:	Band Hall Open until 4:30 pm
Thursday:	HS Band Evening Rehearsal	6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Friday:	Odem vs. George West 5:30 pm: Students at Band Hall 6:45 pm: Senior Parents at gate by Band ~6:55 pm: Senior Band Presentation Begins 7:30 pm: Game Begins ~10:00 pm: Game Ends/Dismissed
Saturday:	Host 2A UIL Area Marching Contest 8:00 am: Leadership Team at School 10:00 am: Volunteer Meeting 10:30 am: Early Volunteer Lunch/Schools Arrive 1:15 pm: First Band Performs 4:45 pm: Odem HS Exhibition Performance 5:00 pm: Drum Majors/Results 6:45 pm: First Finalist Band Warms Up 7:30 pm: First of 7 Finalist Performances 9:30 pm: Full Band Retreat for Finalists 9:45 pm: Results ~11:00 pm: Cleanup Concluded	Full Schedule of Contest

Upcoming Events:

Friday:	Odem vs. George West (Home – Senior Band Night)
Saturday:	Host UIL 2A Area Marching Contest
November 6th:	Depart Odem for Falfurrias Game. We will leave from Falfurrias to San Antonio for Overnight stay
November 7th:	Bands of America Super-Regional at the Alamodome (Tickets available now on Ticketmaster.com) 9:15 am Performance
November 11th:	Veteran’s Day Ceremony
November 14th:	Junior High All-Region Auditions
December 5th:	High School All-Region Auditions
December 8th:	Odem JH Winter Concert (6:30 pm)
December 10th:	Odem HS Winter Concert (6:30 pm)
December 11-12th:	All-Region Clinic/Concert (TAMUK)

Thank you for your help and support of these amazing students! Please contact us if you have any questions!