Get Jose to NTC

Hello Everyone,

I am Jay DeDon, the Band Director at Ben Hill Middle School in Tampa, Florida. One of my students, Jose Carrero Ramos, has made it to the semi-finals round of the National Trumpet Competition! Jose's family fled from Venezuela to the USA in the spring of 2023. Due to the president's executive orders, their status here has been revoked and they will have to leave the USA by April 2nd. There are legal efforts being made to keep this family in Tampa.

National Trumpet Competition is at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, March 13th-16th. Due to legal expenses and the need to prepare for relocation back to Venezuela, they can no longer afford to make this experience possible for Jose. We are looking to gather funds to help give Jose this experience prior to deportation.

This is an extremely kind and generous family who does so much to help our community. They chaperone trips, carpool kids so they can stay after school for practice, and get other kids to auditions and performances. Jose is a leader in our program who shows kindness and respect at all times. He comes before school and during lunch to help 6th and 7th graders learn their music. He helps translate between teachers and students in his academic classes. This is a kid who gets out-of-control excited when the band finally plays a diminished-7 chord in tune and goes ballistic when a lower chair player performs well in class.

Jose has represented our school as the First-Chair Trumpet in the Florida All-State Band and the First-Chair Trumpet in the All-County Band. He also participates in multiple local youth orchestras. Please help this extremely deserving young man participate in the major honor at the National Trumpet Competition.

Funds will be sent to me and I will give them directly to his family. The funds raised will cover the family's flight to/from Dallas/Fort Worth, hotel stay, meals there, conference/competition fees, and local transportation. I will deliver a check of the funds to the family.

Thank you so much for your support.