Co-curricular Leadership: Uniform Coordinator
For my first engagement experience, I chose to do a co-curricular leadership position. As a freshman at Lenoir-Rhyne University, I joined the “Spirit of LR” marching band for the fall of 2021. The marching band peps up the crowd during football games and promotes the Lenoir-Rhyne music program to high schoolers at exhibitions. During the spring semester of 2022, I applied for the uniform coordinator leadership position of the marching band for the next marching band season. In order to apply, I had to write a short essay about why I wanted the position and why I would do well in it. Also, I had to participate in a meeting with all members interested in a leadership position about how the past marching season went and what we can improve upon for the next season. During our marching band celebration of the past season, the marching band director, Neil Underwood, announced the leadership for fall 2022. He selected me to be the “Spirit of LR” marching band’s uniform coordinator.
Uniform coordinator is an important role in the marching band. The person in this position is responsible for sizing other members for their uniforms. This means that they have to find the best uniform jacket and uniform pants that fit each member, in addition to giving each member the correct size of gauntlets, gloves, and marching band hats. The uniform coordinator records this information and creates hat bags for each new member with shakos and plumes in them. This is the most difficult part of the job, but it only lasts during summer band camp. Throughout the fall semester, the uniform coordinator has to arrive early to the music building every football game day to set out the uniform bags and hat bags for the members to grab. They also have to take care of any issues that arise with a member’s uniform throughout the day. The last part of the job involves the uniform coordinator staying later than the rest of the marching band members to put all the uniform bags and hat bags away until the next time they are needed. The uniform coordinator has to interact with the marching band director, marching band staff, and all the marching band members, which allows them a chance to grow in their leadership abilities.
One of the major abilities needed for the position of uniform coordinator is communication. Every year, before marching band camp starts for all the members of the marching band, the drumline and color guard have a couple of marching band camp days. On one of these days, I had to size the drumline for their uniforms. During the leadership day, I decided on the time I would do this with the band director. Since we had decided on this time, I figured that the band director would tell the drumline staff the time, and he did, but as the day drew nearer, the drumline staff became confused about the correct time. We were able to clarify the time the day of, but this made the drumline staff annoyed when drumline was finally fitted because the confusion interfered with their practice. From this case, I learned that I need to email the drumline staff one or two days before sizing to confirm the time and be clearer to others about times when I am sizing members. Also, as uniform coordinator, I need to work on planning ahead to have the dates and times already prepared, so that all I have to do is contact or confirm with the people I need to.
Another lesson I learned from this leadership position is responsibility. As uniform coordinator, I am responsible for knowing where people’s uniforms are, especially if marching band members check them out or the uniform is being repaired. Every time uniforms are put away, I have to know which uniforms are missing, so that they can be found. For the times that the marching band has travelled off campus, I have to-go bags in case of emergency uniform situations. This means that I have to keep up with these bags and the items in them. One reoccurring situation this year was crooked plumes, which required me to switch out the marching band member’s broken plume with one in the to-go bag. I had to remember that later, so that I could replace the crooked plume with a better plume for the next time.
Overall, uniform coordinator is a vital leadership role in the “Spirit of LR” marching band. People in this role have a responsibility to all the marching band members, staff, and director by making the marching band look professional. Additionally, uniform duties directly affect every person involved in the marching band, so uniform coordinators need to be forthcoming with information. I have been lucky and learned a lot in my experience as the uniform coordinator of the “Spirit of LR” marching band this past season.
Uniform coordinator is an important role in the marching band. The person in this position is responsible for sizing other members for their uniforms. This means that they have to find the best uniform jacket and uniform pants that fit each member, in addition to giving each member the correct size of gauntlets, gloves, and marching band hats. The uniform coordinator records this information and creates hat bags for each new member with shakos and plumes in them. This is the most difficult part of the job, but it only lasts during summer band camp. Throughout the fall semester, the uniform coordinator has to arrive early to the music building every football game day to set out the uniform bags and hat bags for the members to grab. They also have to take care of any issues that arise with a member’s uniform throughout the day. The last part of the job involves the uniform coordinator staying later than the rest of the marching band members to put all the uniform bags and hat bags away until the next time they are needed. The uniform coordinator has to interact with the marching band director, marching band staff, and all the marching band members, which allows them a chance to grow in their leadership abilities.
One of the major abilities needed for the position of uniform coordinator is communication. Every year, before marching band camp starts for all the members of the marching band, the drumline and color guard have a couple of marching band camp days. On one of these days, I had to size the drumline for their uniforms. During the leadership day, I decided on the time I would do this with the band director. Since we had decided on this time, I figured that the band director would tell the drumline staff the time, and he did, but as the day drew nearer, the drumline staff became confused about the correct time. We were able to clarify the time the day of, but this made the drumline staff annoyed when drumline was finally fitted because the confusion interfered with their practice. From this case, I learned that I need to email the drumline staff one or two days before sizing to confirm the time and be clearer to others about times when I am sizing members. Also, as uniform coordinator, I need to work on planning ahead to have the dates and times already prepared, so that all I have to do is contact or confirm with the people I need to.
Another lesson I learned from this leadership position is responsibility. As uniform coordinator, I am responsible for knowing where people’s uniforms are, especially if marching band members check them out or the uniform is being repaired. Every time uniforms are put away, I have to know which uniforms are missing, so that they can be found. For the times that the marching band has travelled off campus, I have to-go bags in case of emergency uniform situations. This means that I have to keep up with these bags and the items in them. One reoccurring situation this year was crooked plumes, which required me to switch out the marching band member’s broken plume with one in the to-go bag. I had to remember that later, so that I could replace the crooked plume with a better plume for the next time.
Overall, uniform coordinator is a vital leadership role in the “Spirit of LR” marching band. People in this role have a responsibility to all the marching band members, staff, and director by making the marching band look professional. Additionally, uniform duties directly affect every person involved in the marching band, so uniform coordinators need to be forthcoming with information. I have been lucky and learned a lot in my experience as the uniform coordinator of the “Spirit of LR” marching band this past season.
