Why I Keep Coming Back to BOA Summer Camp

I wasn’t sure what to expect the first time I packed my bags for the Bands of America Summer Camp (formerly known as the Music for All Summer Symposium). Music for All educational consultant, Susan Smith, encouraged me to apply for a scholarship that Yamaha was offering to teachers with less than four years of experience. Four days later, my friend Lizzie and I drove from just south of Austin, Texas, to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Something magical happened that week, something that hooked me. Years later, I still count down the days until I can return to camp, where I now serve as the Coordinator of the Director Academy Assistant team. Here’s why I keep coming back to camp and how it’s changed me in ways I never saw coming.

The Music that Binds Us Together

Before the big concert of the night, each day concludes with a reading session in the director’s band. The excitement of sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with colleagues who I had just met brought me back to my time as a student musician. As I learn from master teachers and discover new literature, I also experience the musical upbringing of others and celebrate their experiences. Camp taught me that a single composition can turn strangers into family, even if it’s only for a week.

Lunchtime Chats

The sessions that I have had the honor of attending and now presiding over are second to none, but learning continues beyond the classrooms of the Teachers College. Every meal during the week opens up the opportunity to learn more from each other about how to navigate our profession. We support one another in times of celebration and times of frustration, offer advice on situations we have experienced, and dream big for the future. During these lunchtime chats, I have learned resilience, teamwork and the kind of confidence that doesn’t come from being the best, but from knowing I could keep going.

The People Who Stay with You

If I’m honest, it’s the people who keep me coming back more than anything else. There’s something about the camp bubble — the long days, the shared exhaustion, the late-night talks in the dorms — where friendships are quickly forged. I met one of my best friends, Jerell Horton, the Band Director at Vestavia Hills High School in Alabama, on the second day of my first year at camp. We’ve been inseparable since, even across state lines.

The magic didn’t stop with the campers. The Music for All staff, clinicians, and Director Academy Assistants poured their hearts into us. I now feel honored to provide those same experiences to others, and I get an indescribable satisfaction seeing them experience the same joy I did when I attended camp as a music teacher. In a world that can be overwhelmingly selfish, camp has taught me that we are only worth what we are willing to give to others.

A Spark that Never Fades

Every year when I leave camp, I am exhausted, my feet are sore, I am sleep deprived and my voice is often hoarse from cheering at the annual Drum Corps International performances. However, I’m also buzzing with energy. It’s like camp flips a switch in me. I go home and work harder, dream bigger, and push myself in ways I wouldn’t have thought to before. Camp hasn’t just changed how I teach, it has changed how I see myself. It’s where I discovered I could be more than I thought, and every return trip reignites that spark.

Why I Keep Coming Back

People ask me why I keep going back to camp and often jokingly ask, “Haven’t you learned enough?” For me, it’s not about mastering every skill or collecting every lesson; it’s about the rush of the final drum corps performance, the ache of saying goodbye, the promise of “I’ll see you next summer,” and helping create the magic for a new generation of first-time camp attendees.

The Bands of America Summer Camp isn’t just a place where I spend the last week of June. It has become a part of me. It’s where I found my passion, my people, and a piece of myself I didn’t know was missing. I’ll see you at camp!

Registration is now open for the 2025 Bands of America Summer Camp, which will be held June 23-28 at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Learn more about other 2025 summer professional development workshops.

Photos courtesy of Music for All