It was great to see all of our students back last week for the first week of school! We also very much appreciate the community for coming out to support Meet the Band this past week as well!

Friday will be our first home football game of the season versus Karnes City. If you have been assigned this evening to work in the concession stand we ask that you please help out as scheduled. If you are unable to attend/help please contact Mrs. Mandi Edwards to help us ensure we have a replacement. It is imperative that we have help at all home football games to adequately staff the concession stands as it is our most consistent fundraiser for the year!

Students will be wearing their band shirts/shorts for the game on Friday. We started handing those out last week to students who have paid their fees. Please help us get those turned in early this week! If there’s a financial concern we will work with you as well, but please contact me to discuss a plan there.

For returning HS Band members who have shoes that still fit and are in good condition, that fee is $75. For Freshmen/students who need new shoes that fee is $115 this year. The fees cover band shirts/shorts/water jugs/flip folders/lyres and a few other small things. Most of our guard members still owed $175 after their May payment. (Total for guard is $575 this year) Please send a check or money order made out to OEISD as soon as possible. If there is a financial issue, we can work on a payment plan. Please reach out to us if that is an issue! We never want finances to be a reason that students do not do band!

This week we will be handing out our band water jugs to high school students. Please help us make sure students have them at every rehearsal/game/competition. Also, as we begin the school year a reminder that all rehearsals, games, and competitions are graded. Athletes with overlapping practices or events are expected to go with those teams and are excused from conflicting practices. 

For our new Beginning Band students, Hillje Music will be setup at the JH Band Hall from 4:30pm-7pm on Wednesday. This is a great time to take care of rent-to-own programs, supplies, books, etc. for our new students. Additionally if you have an older student with an instrument purchased through them, they have a fantastic step-up program to trade up to a nicer instrument. We ask that all beginning band students have their instruments sorted out there or through South Texas Music Mart by the following Monday so we can get a great start with them on their instruments. As you check out options, please let us know if finances prevent you from using one of these programs. We are willing to help with either a school instrument, putting you in touch with alumni of our program who might be selling theirs, or helping with other options! As I said above, we never want finances to prevent a student from participating in band!

Finally we do have order forms available to order a second set of our show shirts through the boosters. We need those order forms and money turned in no later than next Wednesday (30th) please! We do have to hit a minimum order to get these printed due to the higher grade printing this company does. The second order shirts are being printed on 50/50 blend shirts since we usually hear that parents prefer that. You may find order forms here: https://tinyurl.com/56y8vb93 Checks/Money Orders should be made out to Owl Band Boosters for these shirts.

This Week’s Schedule:

Day:	Event:
Monday:	6:30pm-8:30pm Marching Rehearsal
Tuesday:	No Afternoon Rehearsal
Wednesday:	4:15pm-5:30pm Rehearsal
Thursday:	6:30pm-8:30pm Rehearsal
Friday:	Odem vs. Karnes City (Home) 5:45pm at Band Hall 7:30pm Game Begins

Upcoming Events:

Day:	Event:	Time:
Wednesday	Beginning Band Instrument Night	4:30 pm – 7 pm
Friday	Odem vs. Karnes City (Home)	7:30 pm
September 1st	Odem vs. Tidehaven (Tidehaven)
September 4th	Evening Rehearsal (Labor Day)	6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
September 8th	Odem vs. Mathis (Mathis)
September 14th	Homecoming Parade/Burning of the O
September 15th	Odem vs. San Diego (Homecoming)
September 16th	All-Region Jazz Auditions (Robstown)
September 22nd	Odem vs. Taft (Taft)
September 23rd	2nd Annual Owl Marching Invitational

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