Thanks to everyone who helped make my 3 years as president enjoyable and easy. I ask you for the same kindness and support for our new board and President David Ramirez < > ramirez.cfhsband@gmail.com
Outgoing Seniors and Parents- please reply to this email with “ALUMNI LIST” to be placed on our Alumni contact list or “REMOVE” to be taken completely off distribution. Whatever you choose, thanks for being part of such a great organization. Your participation and endless hours of support are appreciated.
We still have several critical adult volunteer positions open including concessions and hospitality. Another e-mail will follow with more specific information about this.
If you are good with calendars, let me know, we need a volunteer to populate the google calendar with the coming years events. Should only take an hour.
Congratulations to Jaylan Mims and Sydney Celata for making the 2018 NAfME All-National Honor Band. The event will be held in Orlando November 25-28, 2018
What should you and your child be doing this month?
Parents get fingerprinted, form is in the registration packet and is required for volunteers.
Parents/Students get a VHSL physical completed and the Stafford Overnight Field trip form signed by a doctor.
Students – pick up your instrument and blow air through it 😊
Parents/Students make note of the 2019-2020 newly adopted school year calendar. Band activities will begin in late July and early August next year due to the new school start date of August 12,2019
READING DAY- June 2 - This is Marching Band Orientation, fun and ICE CREAM
New Students arrive 8:30 to Band Room
All new staff required to participate.
11:30 Parent Briefing
Ice Cream for all students
Concert Attire – Return dirty and COMPLETE May 31- Seniors not performing in Percussion ensemble May 31- Anyone not performing in Graduation Band June 16- Grad band drops off immediately after performance, bring other items to wear home Debt list -any items not returned will be submitted to the school to be placed on the debt list. 2018-19 Parent help- Mrs. Hough has volunteered as co-hospitality chair, however she must have another person as she cannot commit to all the dates needed. Please contact her or president@forgepride.com if you can help. Concessions- a significant loss if we can not have a couple of families to lead this activity. We will lose it forever if we have to forfeit this. This is a major part of the budget that keeps DUES down. We have identified a couple parents to help but that cannot commit to leading it due to work scheduling. This is a team approach and can done very easily with a few helpers. Please contact her or president@forgepride.com if you can help.
Adult Volunteer Fingerprinting – Required every year by SCPS- As you enjoy your summer days off, please make time to drop by SCPS Human Resources office to get finger printed again (or for the first time) This way we are ahead of the game for the fall. They have specific hours to be aware of and summer hours. You must request a signed form from Mr. Gillette prior to going to HR. Contact Mr. Gillette at gilletterj@staffordschools.net.
OTHER DATES OF INTEREST June 5 @ 7:00PM Concert in the Park- Various ensembles including the Jazz Band will perform at the Embry Mill Festival Park Pavilion at 7PM. EM will provide snacks, so please bring a chair or blanket, and enjoy. This is a new activity and opportunity to give back to Forge feeder communities. June 7 @ 7:00 PM in the Forge Auditorium- Advanced Percussion Ensemble Concert- please come out for this unique concert June 12 @ 7:00PM in the Forge Auditorium – Senior Recital – enjoy to sounds of our graduating seniors. July 8-18 @Riverbend H.S. FredBrass Institute visit www.fredbrass.com for info
We have the best collection of students at Forge. They work hard and continue the tradition of excellence as a result. This is not possible without AWESOME parents offering their time, no matter how much time it is. Please consider being involved, they do need you.
4-30-2018 CFMB- end of year items 1.Senior Scholarship – Located on Forgepride.com home page– Time sensitive 2.Swing Night- planning meeting this Wednesday, 7pm at Grounds Biestro in Embry Mills. Weneed several people to assist in planning this event. Please reply to this email to let me know you can attend.
New event- Concert in the Park. Small Ensembles/Jazz Ensemble at Embry Mill pavilion. More to come.
4.Concert Attire- students should be prepared to leave all items of their concert attire at school immediately after the spring concert. 5.We are still in need of parents to contribute with hospitality and concessions for next year.
5/17 Spring Concert 7:00 5/19 Swing Night Evening (Saturday) 5/21 Final Booster Meeting of school year 6/1 Band Awards 6/2 Marching Band Reading Day 6/5 Small Ensembles/Jazz Ensemble at Embry Mill Pavilion 6/7 Percussion Concert 7:00 6/12 Senior Recitals 7:00 6/16 Graduation
Marching Band Dates (Tentative) June 2 8:30 am - 1:00 pm Reading Day July 27-28 Leadership Camp - Brooke Pointe High School July 30 - August 9 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Color Guard/Percussion Camp August 8 - 9 Newbie Camp (Newbies and Staff)9:00 am - 5:00 pm August 10 Full Band 8:00 am - 4:00 pm (Picture) August 13 - 17 8:00 am - 9:00 pm Band Camp (Bring a lunch, we feed you dinner) August 20, 22, 23 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Band Rehearsal August 24 AWAY FOOTBALL August 27, 29, 30 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Band Rehearsal AUGUST 31, HOME FOOTBALL September 8, TAG Day- REQUIRED FOR ALL
4-18-2018 Reminder that report is no later than 9PM tonight. A last minute change with busses has us departing by 10:30 which is 90 minutes earlier. So it is critical that everyone report on time at 9PM as scheduled.
4-17-2018
Chaperones report at 8:30 for a run down
Chaperones park alongside the ball fields in student lot, do not park in students spaces. Place a sign in window that you are on a field trip with band.
If you child has a parking space, you may use it, just use their car, as they do check.
Remember to pack for layering- mornings 40 degrees- afternoons 65 degrees
Bring sneakers for hike.
Refillable water bottles for when we get to Tennessee (empty for bus trip)
Chaperones- official blue shirt and Khakis only for performance – all other times casual
4-15-2018 Booster/Trip meeting tomorrow night. (Monday 7pm Bandroom) Parent and Students must attend Elections Critical openings on the board- President and VP 1 Critical opening on committees- Concessions, Hospitality, Swing Night
All parents are asked to be involved at some level. The students deserve our support throughout the year. Please consider giving your time this fall.
3-19-2018 CFMB Meeting Tonight 7PM Bandroom Required attendance for parents for those who have kids going on trip Others please attend to get the latest on what’s happening with the program. Payments are due
2-19-2018 1.Booster Meeting tomorrow night 7:00PM in the band room 2.Good luck to the 16 Forge students auditioning for All-State band this coming weekend 3.If you have a BTTFH road sign, please bring it to the meeting 4.This is the time of year where we look forward to planning next year. Over the past three years I have seen a great presence in volunteers helping make this a great program for the kids. Lets continue this by looking over where the needs will be moving forward. The immediate need is a chair and committee for this year’s swing night. We are taking a new direction with the food this year so things being organized by a committee will make life easy for those who step up. 5.Final payments for the spring trip are due April 1. Please continue to send in payments as you can. 2017 Booster Positions All board positions are elected each year, however there has been no one to express interest in the President & Treasurer 2 positions Hospitality Concessions lead and +3committee members Gift wrapping 3 committee members Guard Parent Spring trip lead + 3 committee members
Elections will be held during the special april trip meeting. New board takes over July 1, 2018
1-22-2018 Booster Meeting tonight 7PM Band Room 1. Thanks to all those who assisted with All District Auditions, We had just enough volunteers to pull it off. We had 49 students make it! Congratulations! Of those, the unofficial number of students qualify for a state audition is 13-15 students. 2. Spring trip payment of $100 is also due.
12-5-2017 CFMB STRONG
Once again, we find ourselves in need of assistance for District Auditions. Please assist- hosting this event is critical for our students, in total about 40% of the All- County band are Forge students – Awesome job. And thanks to all those who helped out. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080e45a5a72babfc1-20173
We are out of White House Ornaments – we may be placing an additional limited order- but you have to let Mrs. Ramos know by Friday Dec 8. jtrcramos@yahoo.com if you need one.
With just 4 days to go, 150 Colonial Forge students and an additional 200 from around the county will be auditioning for All-County Band. Today we have only 15 of 41 positions needed to host a successful event. Please consider assisting the students in a successful audition. Monday, December 4, 2017 http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080e45a5a72babfc1-20172
Same goes for All-District Auditions – Saturday December 9 We have 23 of the 54 needed.
If you are still interested in going on the trip to the Smokey Mountain Music Festival, please contact president@forgepride.com. Many students chose not to go, not because of where, but what friends go or not go. But at the end of the day, everyone goes because:
It’s fun anywhere the band goes
Miss 2 days of school
Dinner Theatre, Roller Coasters and more.
You help is needed again for All-County and All-District Auditions. Shifts are easy and some can accommodate bringing a sibling with you.
Play-Off Football Concessions- Saturday 2pm. Keep an eye out for the sign up. We will need help on this one as it will be well attended by home and visitor teams.
11-19-2017 CFMB This week 1.Booster meeting tomorrow Monday Nov 20, 7PM band room 2.Spring Trip Deposit Due Tomorrow $100 , must pay cash/check- Monday Nov 20 3.Cookie Dough and Cheesecake pick up tomorrow after school or at meeting. 4.Wrapping schedules were distributed Friday, other will be handed out at meeting 5.Make $$$, sell Whitehouse ornaments, magnets, and flags. Pick some up tomorrow at meeting. They all make great sticking stuffers. 6.County and District Auditions info and volunteer needs- signup will be posted this week. 7.Friday football playoffs
bttfh is going on as scheduled
band together to fight hunger weather update
As of sunday afternoon at 3:30 on 4 different weather sites they all agreed the rain would be gone by 6 pm. This may mean we have to move the bands inside for their rehearsal, delay set-up a bit, and maybe not open the gates till 6pm but as of right now we are still aiming for this to happen tomorrow night. Mr. Welch and I will touch base again tomorrow and re-asses the weather but if it looks like we have a good window we are going to go for it. Please pass this info along to your bands.
If we find out we need to move to the rain date (11/13) I will post it on Twitter by 12pm which automatically feeds to our Face Book account. I will also ask our SCPS communications dept to send out notification to our SCPS community as well. Paul and/or Dayna maybe you all could then also use your radio connections to get it out that way as well. Hopefully we won't have to do any of this. :)
Fingers crossed the weather will continue to improve for tomorrow evening. You may want to consider packing some old towels as I suspect we may need to dry off some seats for our kids as well as possibly our tables. Please plan to dress for the weather and we'll forge ahead.
11-1-2017 CFMB- The BIG Finish
BTTFH is a collective community event to feed our communities hungry. Each year, students are encouraged to compete against each other to see which graduating class can bring in the most non-perishable food items. So far, there have been 10 items brought in. Please consider participating in this activity. BTTFH collectively brings in a value over 25,000 meals from this event. The cut off for donations is Monday morning November, 6
Invite a friend to attend Newbie night- the future depends on it.
Spring Trip announced- details are posted on the website. More aspects of the trip are being added, just have to finalize head count to see where we are at on finances. https://www.forgepride.com/2018-spring-trip.html Deposits will be collected at Nov 20 meeting.
Individual Fundraising Accounts are now available, before students can earn money a contract must be signed. Please contact treasurer@forgepride.com for info. You must have an account for gift wrapping.
10-25-2017 CFMB CORRECTION Apologies- The cheesecake and cookie dough orders are due this FRIDAY. Please contact secretary@forgepride.com for questions. Students earl $3 per order towards their IFA. REQUIRED gift wrapping training - Thursday Oct 26 - Student training 2:30 Thursday Oct 26 – Parent training 7:00 PM in the band room. Monday Oct 30 – Make-up parent training Band Together to fight hunger VOLUNTEER sign-up - https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/8050c4babaf22a13-band Nov 3 is NEWBIE NIGHT- recruiting is essential to big-successful-awesome band program. Please help invite all rising 8th graders to come play with us.
10-23-2017 CFMB Students Earn $$ Just an amazing year of volunteerism so far and thank you for it. Still much to do so let’s finish the year strong. 1.Introducing Individual Fundraising Accounts (IFA). Earn every time you sell. Students earn money for every ornament, cheesecake, cookie dough, flag and magnet they sell. All earned money will be able to be applied to the spring trip. Have your student pick up order forms for Cheesecake and cookie dough order forms in the band room. Orders due back NOV 1 in green box and will be delivered afterschool on November 20 after school and at the booster meeting. 2.It’s gift wrapping time… Everyone must attend training and be signed off in order to participate in this fundraiser. You will also need to sign an IFA contract to earn money. Schedule request forms issued once Thursday Oct 26 - Student training 2:30 Thursday Oct 26 – Parent training 7:00 PM in the band room. Monday Oct 30 – Make-up parent training Nov 3- schedule forms due back in green box Nov 16 – assigned schedules distributed at booster meeting Nov 24 wrapping at mall begins 3.Band Together to fight hunger VOLUNTEER sign-up is posted. Each school is responsible to fill our share of shifts, including clean-up. None of our shifts are during our student’s performance. Clean up usually only take 15 min. easiest shift possible. https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/8050c4babaf22a13-band 4.BTTFH shirts are in – will be in band room tomorrow after school with students name on it on cabinets. 5.Nov 3 home game is SENIOR NIGHT – we need to have as many non-senior families step for concessions so that the SENIOR parents may enjoy their special night. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080e45a5a72babfc1-varsity 6.Nov 3 is NEWBIE NIGHT- recruiting is essential to big-successful-awesome band program. Please help invite all rising 8th graders to come play with us.
10-16-2017 CFMB Meeting Monday Oct 16, 7 PM Band room
1.A meeting you just don’t want to miss out on. Introducing student financial incentives. 2.Concert CFHS 3.Concert Attire- if your student does not have it home, it is because it is ready for pick up or payment has not been made. Please check with Mr. Gillette or email concertattire@forgepride.com 4.Gift Wrapping info
10-12-2017 CFMB – HOMECOMING WEEK
1.Concert next week -concert attire is ready to take home NOW if you have paid. If you have not paid, please contact Mr. Gillette ASAP. 2.BIG concessions opportunity tomorrow at home against Stafford. We will be playing post game so this is a great time help – we need more than usual to keep the lines moving and satellite staffed. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080e45a5a72babfc1-varsity 3.Cookie dough and Cheesecake order forms coming home and at the booster evening. Delivery in time for Thanksgiving. 4. booster meeting- discussing spring trip payment dates and registration process, and Gift wrapping meeting and training dates. 5.Our corporate giving program is moving forward. Have a company that wants to be promoted throughout the area? Send us the info. Our latest partners are BANG Music and Men’s Warehouse (Fred). Our list keeps growing- Chick Fil A, Shelton Shop Cleaners & Eddies U-haul. 6.HYDRATION HELP- Friday marks the final group to provide a case of water for the kids. If you missed your turn, please send it in.
9-19-2019 Band Together To Fight Hunger
2017 Special Edition
We are pleased to offer a special edition spirit wear for the 7th Annual Band Together To Fight Hunger exhibition.
Please find the attached flyer for the regular and special edition items.
Orders and payments due back to Mr Gillette (Blue Box) by Oct 3.
Items will arrive @Oct 18 in time to promote the event.
Also posted at www.forgepride.com
9-19-2017
Hydration Help- If you have not provided a case of water – Last names A-R are now due. We are currently out of water for the weekend. Please bring in ASAP to the band room.
Concert Attire- send in the form with payment and students can bring home attire. Concert Oct. 17.
Fundraisers – Flags and magnets on sale now (www.forgepride.com) White House ornaments also now taking orders. Our overall goal is $8,000 and we are far from it. Please help sell!
Tag Day- a big thank you to the committee for a great job and also to all the volunteers who drove the kids. We have reached our goal of $12,000
Weekends are getting busy. We have a special page designated for complicated weekends. You can find it by rolling over the calendar menu to find the DETAILED EVENT SCHEDULE page. This page is updated as we get the information up until Friday afternoon. http://www.forgepride.com/detailed-event-schedules.html
Concessions – Great work Tanner Family – lets keep them well staffed with volunteers for JV and Varsity games. We have some big crowds coming now that we are heading into divisional games. http://www.forgepride.com/sign-up-and-volunteer-info.html
9-1-2017 1.Thanks for all hose filling up the concession shifts, you are making it much easier for the Tanners to manage concessions! If you can cook your assistance would be appreciated around 4PM. 2.TAG DAY is right around the corner – Sept 9th. If you have not volunteered to drive, please do we are still in need of 15 drivers to make this a successful day. Rain or Shine. Most routes are completed by noon. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080e45a5a72babfc1-2017 If you are not fingerprinted we can still use you as a Runner Driver or counter. If you are wondering what a Runner Driver is, well it means you provide support to the groups in the field delivering extra supplies. If we do not get enough students drivers you may be asked to take a couple kids. 3.Flag fundraiser- Eagle Nation garden flags and car flags are now available. We are asking each band student to sell two flags. Each is $20. Purchase yours tonight at the game at concessions or you can view and order online at www.forgepride.com - post it on Facebook so your friends know where to get one. The stock is at our house so you can always email me and we can make them available to you. Our goal is to sell 200. 4.Amazon SMILE- The easiest money made for the year so far just by a couple parents shopping through AMAZON SMILE. The band earned $40 last month- yes- free money! Please register and shop through https://smile.amazon.com/ch/54-2054930 5.Spring Trip Location… we have no idea—a committee is being formed to research and plan the trip. Please let me know if you are interested.
Thank you for all of those who assisted during band camp. The kids had a long hard week and appreciated the good dinners led by Mrs. Mims our fantastic hospitality chair.
8-8-2017 WELCOME BACK AND BAND HAS ARRIVED – BACK TO BAND DINNER is Wednesday, August 9, 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Come meet other band families, enjoy dinner out, turn in paperwork/payments, and have fun with the Sound & Guard! Meet the student and adult staff Committee volunteers should wear their blue polo and be prepared to say 1-2 minutes about your committee. POT LUCK- Last name A - L bring a main dish Last name M - Z bring a side dish Staff members bring dessert
We are still in critical need for someone to lead TAG-DAY for this year. Please let us know how you can help.
7-31-2017 Kicking Off 2017 (reminder if you want to unsubscribe please reply UNSUBSCRIBE or ALUMNI LIST)
1.Dues and Paperwork now due FRIDAY AUG 4, online pay option available. www.forgepride.com 2.Newbie parent – get to know you meeting , Monday AUG 7 in the band room. 3.Back to Band dinner – All parents and students Wednesday Aug 9 (cafeteria or band room TBD) 4.Volunteers needed – Vice President and a team lead for Tag Day. Please contact Kevin Celata celataband@gmail.com for information. These are critical positions needed to support the students success this season. 5.Students should begin good HYDRATION habits NOW. Another HOT August in in sight and we hope everyone will stay healthy. 6.Band Camp meals. The boosters will be providing dinner M-T of camp this year. Hospitality will need some assistance with this. We will also be asking families to sign up for side dishes throughout the week.