Send Richmond High Marching Band to Disneyland

Hey, my name is Andrew Wilke and I am the director of the Music Dept. at Richmond High School in the Bay Area. Last year was our first year going to Disneyland to march and it has motivated our students beyond expectations. Leading us into a very strong start to our year in which the Band and Color Guard brought back several trophies in our competitive season.

We have been accepted by Disney to come back this year and march again! Marching band teaches many lessons to our students including, personal responsibility, being a productive community member, and the process of self-reflection. The students of the RHS marching band serve our community by providing music at community events and inspiring younger students to study music. Our department has a 100% graduation rate and over 90% of our graduating seniors go to college. Trips like this help provide motivation and inspiration to our students.

Out trip will be 4 days and 3 nights which has us looking at about $7,000 for hotel rooms and $19,000 for two buses to get us there and back.

When most schools go on a trip like this the students are expected to foot the bill. However the majority of our student's come from an economically disadvantaged background. So while our students pay for their tickets to the park we are raising funds to pay for the two buses and hotel rooms for our 80 person marching band.

Thank you so much for supporting our students,

-Andrew Wilke