Incoming Freshmen Info
WELCOME TO LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL BANDS
Practices
The 2023 Fall Marching Season starts with Band Camp: two weeks of full days (9 a.m. to 8 p.m.) August 14-18 (Mon-Fri) and August 21-25 (Mon-Fri) @ Liberty. Following Band Camp, regular practices are held at Liberty HS Monday/Wednesdays, 6-9 p.m., Aug. 28 – Early Nov. It is critical that every student attends the full Band Camp and every practice. Additional practices might be added during the season. Transportation to/from practices is not provided. Carpooling is highly encouraged. Please discuss any conflicts with the Band Director.
Competitions
Marching season consists of four Saturday competitions throughout October through the Championships at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. Each is a full-day event at a local/regional high school or stadium with two competitions being an overnight trip at Grants Pass High School and the Eugene Championships. Students are expected to participate in every competition. The band generally performs twice at each competition. Transportation is provided between Liberty and the competition. The fall season schedule is distributed at registration time in August. The schedule for each competition day is announced about one week before that competition. The time of the second performance is dependent on preliminary performance scores. Plan for long, fun days!
Fees
There are two separate fees for the band participation:
Hillsboro School District Activity fee – charged by the district (waived if your student participates in the free or reduced lunch program) directly into your student’s school account.
**Band Boosters fee – $1090 Fall Marching Band/Color Guard Fair Share fee, due mid-August. Family Discounts are available for families with multiple students in Marching Band or Colorguard. This fee can be reduced by $690 by meeting the volunteering commitments listed below. Fees are payable at the start of band camp and must be paid in full by the end of the season. There is also a $35 Uniform Fund fee and $45 Shoe Fee. There is a separate $1090 fee for participation in the separate Winter Percussion or Winterguard season, due mid-January.
Fundraising
There are two types of fundraising: General and Individual.
General fundraisers are held to offset the actual cost of participation in the Band and cover a variety of expenses. 42% of the cost of our program is paid for through fundraising (this covers: competition fees, props, transportation, food, uniform upkeep, etc.). Each family is required to participate in at least some. Terms are listed in the Volunteering section below (General fundraisers include: Summer Can Drive Blitz (July), Monthly Can Drives, working a shift at a Liberty Band hosted event, plus Intel/Nike volunteer hours, Fred Meyer Rewards, Amazon Smile, etc.).
Individual fundraisers benefit your student’s Band account directly. These are optional. With aggressive individual fundraising a family can typically offset your band participation, marching shoes, and concert attire costs. Some are done by the student and some by an adult family member. (Individual fundraisers include: Pie sales, working a shift at a non-band/guard event at Liberty eg. OSAA sports or the Les Schwab Invitational, etc.)
Volunteering
Performing at a competition simply can’t happen without the effort of many volunteers. Each family opting for the volunteering commitment discount is required to contribute at least 32 hours of volunteer work for the Band per season (Fall and Winter are separate seasons). If during the course of the year parents choose not to contribute their total hours, the student may be charged $20 for each hour less than the target. Volunteer hours may be done throughout the entire school year but must be completed by May 15 each spring. Students will not be able to participate in end of the year activities unless fees and volunteer hours are paid in full and/or completed (volunteering includes building /painting props, assisting at football halftime shows, assisting with food or equipment at away competitions, chaperoning students on overnight trips, making food, sizing uniforms, etc. The possibilities are endless!)
Uniforms
Liberty Band Boosters provides one “Better Every Day” T-shirt free to new students. Students are responsible for purchasing marching shoes – $40 (the Boosters coordinate an order in August) and black socks (one pair black socks provided with each pair of new shoes purchased). Marching Band uniforms are maintained by the Boosters, assigned to each student, and kept at school.
Instruments
Some Marching Band instruments are provided by the band and must be well taken care of by the students.
Some Concert Band instruments are also provided by the band. The rest are the student’s responsibility.
Our 2024-25 Incoming Freshmen Welcome Meeting will be announced in March 2024
CONTACT US if you have additional questions about Incoming Freshmen and the Liberty Band programs.
