Some away games pose extreme challenges logistically when trying to determine the itinerary for departure times and predicting arrival times for the evening.   Such is the case this week as we tried to compose our schedule for the Trojan’s away game against North Hall High School in Gainesville, Ga.

Our band program is heavily supported by our school and by the school system.  Our director of transportation has been working diligently to help us secure buses to travel to all of our away games and even did all he could to check in to the band possibly departing early this week because of the logistics of traveling through Atlanta during rush hour traffic on Friday evenings and following the heavy traffic patterns to Gainesville.  Understanding that the transportation department’s first priority is getting students home safely from school, we realized that buses would not be available to us until roughly 4:30pm on Friday. This departure time would put us at the mercy of rush hour traffic with an already arduous 2 hour trip under normal circumstances, and our arrival could be well after the start of the game.

Additionally, today we learned that Friday night is North Hall’s Homecoming game. North Hall graciously invited us to perform before the game, but with being uncertain if we could make it on time, it was better to not plan on performing before the game.

So today, after much discussion between Band Director Chris Carr and CHS Principal Dr. Mark Albertus, they have determined the best course of action and the best decision for the band is to not attend the game against North Hall this Friday in Gainesville. This was not a decision that was made lightly or without much consideration. Mr. Carr and the entire band program love supporting the Trojan Football team, Cheerleaders, students, and fans. We love representing and inspiring the spirit of the Trojan Nation through our music and cheers and truly wish circumstances would have allowed us to attend the game and perform our show for everyone in attendance. We hope that you do not find this decision disappointing and also hope that you will understand and support it knowing that it was made with the best intentions.  Dr. Albertus recommended that this plan might be best for our band students considering that we have a very important performance next Tuesday at the Carroll County Band Exhibition and would greatly benefit from the rehearsal time, especially considering the rained-out practices that we have had these past few weeks.

With the decision made, the Trojan Band will remain on the Carrollton Campus, at Grisham Stadium this Friday night, where we will practice and work on getting our show ready for the Carroll County Band Exhibition and for next week’s home game against Banneker when we will perform our complete Defying Gravity show for the first time in front of our home crowd.

Thank you for your understanding and for your continued support. If you would like to see a sneak peek of our full show, you are welcome to come to the end of our Saturday practice around 8:30pm or to the Carroll County Exhibition at Central High School next Tuesday for a preview. If we don’t see you then, we hope to see you next Friday night as we dare to truly Defy Gravity for the first time!

This Week’s Full/Modified Itinerary

• Tuesday (9/15) – Full Band Practice; 3:15pm-6:15pm
• Thursday (9/17)
  • Full Band Practice; 6:00pm-9:00pm
  • Competition Committee Meeting; 6:00pm-7:30pm
  • Prop Construction; 7:30pm-9:00pm
  • All-In-One Fundraiser packet pick-up; 8:00-9:15pm
• Friday (9/18)
  • Full Band Practice; 3:15pm-6:15pm
  • Prop Construction; 5:00pm-8:30pm
• Saturday (9/19)
  • Prop Construction; 1:00pm-9:00pm
  • Full Band Practice; 1:00pm-9:00pm

If you normally volunteer to help the band during the game and you are not planning to make the trip to North Hall, please come out and help us with props Friday night. Most of the heavy construction is done, but we could use some help painting and tying up a lot of loose ends.

Thank you for your understanding and for your continued support.

CHS Band Staff & CHS Band Boosters

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