With the school year ending and the freshness of summer fast approaching, so are summer programs. One such program being the official band camp, a program that starts at 7 o’clock in the morning and ends at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, running through the first week of July, and is ran and led by band director, Ben Sampayan.

Similar to camps that sports typically do, the band camp aims at promoting the idea of bonding while also completing objectives and training. Sampayan further elaborates, “During the training it’s all about basics, how to march, how to play our warm ups, how to do our drills. Everything that’s going to set them up in the long term.” 

It’s important to get the gist of what’s going to be done and how its going to be done, especially in a band, which is something junior Daniel Schwarts, a member who has attended in previous years, agrees with, saying, “You really get to work on the fundamentals of everything, it’s really just like a stepping off point for the season..” Preparation is key, and a lot goes into the process of participating in these kinds of camps, just like a lot goes into bonding with other people.

A key part of band camp is socializing, which is something Sampayan expresses by saying “It helps students get to know their band-mates.” which is something other long term members of the band who have attended camp before agree with.

Junior Kavian Zohnnie stated some of the benefits that can be gained through bonding with other people. “You get to meet other people, and not just talk with your own little friend group since it forces you to meet with other people.” meeting new people and bonding with them isn’t the only thing to be gained from camp, the bonding experiences help familiarize band members with one another, along with giving time to not entirely focus on band, but to also focus on other obligations and interest when the new school year rolls around and a new season of band begins.