Hello, I'm Ari, an 8th grader at Eliot-Hine Middle School in Washington, D.C. I am fundraising for my school's band, where I play trombone. At the start of the school year, I noticed that many of the instruments were unplayable or needed repairs. I've chosen to fundraise for the band program because our new teacher, Ms. Jean has generously decided to pay for many things out of pocket but to reach our full potential we need so much more.

I created this GoFundMe to raise $20,000 to develop the new band program at Eliot-Hine Middle School as part of my International Baccalaureate Community Project. The new band director, Ms. Sandra Jean, is in need of new instruments and instrument repair tools to better run the program for her students. 

Coming into the Eliot-Hine band program, Ms. Jean started with hardly any band materials. The program takes place in a newly constructed part of the building with beautiful acoustics and soundproof practice rooms that double as recording studios, but there are only 25 instruments and many are in need of repairs. We currently do not have all the instruments that are required for a full concert band. 

I think every school deserves to have well developed music programs that challenge kids to participate in creative spaces. The expected short term benefits of this project is to give kids a reason to come to school everyday to learn something new that they may end up loving. For example, my friend VW decided that he wanted to learn trombone with no prior experience and is currently a trombone section leader. Some students in the Eliot-Hine community struggle with finding the motivation to come to school every day. A band program that has been properly invested in will allow students to have new spaces that encourage them in their learning. 

Long term goals of this program is for students to become a part of the Eliot-Hine band in the 6th grade and continue to strengthen their skills with their instruments. One of the wonderful things about Eliot-Hine, is the local high school that is across the street, Eastern High School. Eastern High School has arguably the best high school band in the DMV area, The Blue and White Marching Machine (BWMM). By strengthening the middle school band program, students would be encouraged to go to their local feeder high school, and thus would encourage families to continue their investment into the local community. 

At this time there are only 17 students participating in the band program out of approximately 266 and we have access to 25 instruments; about 75% of them are broken or need repairs. The number of students is expected to grow each year, as this is only the beginning of this program. The goal of the program is to grow to at least 20-30 students in the class by the beginning of the next school year and in following years for every student who enters the building to have the opportunity to learn an instrument.

The band has already begun its mission to encourage kids to come to school and have better attendance in order to stay in the band program. Ms. Jean has been able to make a strong positive impact within her first year by organizing the winter concert, the honor roll concert, and hopefully a trip to the Kennedy Center. What Ms. Jean is missing in her classroom is the correct tools and instruments to help the band grow and help the students stay engaged. Despite not having all of the tools needed for a successful program, Ms. Jean has still created an environment where kids are interested, engaged, and ready to learn.