SciTech Band: The Pride of Springfield

The Springfield High School of Science and Technology Band Program is renowned as one of Massachusetts’ top music programs. Known to city residents as “The Pride of Springfield,” the SciTech Band is the subject of a national documentary about the transformative power of student ownership in the classroom. The band has been featured on local ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX news channels, the Springfield Republican Newspaper, the Springfield Educator Newspaper, masslive.com, wggb.com, the Western Massachusetts Women Magazine, the Massachusetts Music Educator News Magazine, WHMP Radio Station, Boston’s National Public Radio Station, and New England Public Radio. The band was the recipient of the Massachusetts Commonwealth Award, the state’s highest honor given for achievement in the arts. Band students have even received a personal letter from President Barack Obama praising them for “dreaming big dreams and improving our community.” 

Building a quality band in a city with the sixth highest child poverty rate in the United States is said to have been impossible. Fortunately, the SciTech Band has found that nothing is impossible to overcome when students become leaders and take ownership in the classroom. Since January of 2007, the SciTech Band has grown from 20 students to over 500. Perhaps more importantly, the odds of staying in school are three times higher for students who join the band. With a strong student leadership team and under the direction of Gary Bernice, Carissa Lueth, and Charlotte Ouellette, the SciTech Band is now empowering students to give back to their community by sharing the joy of music.  

During the past decade, the SciTech Concert Band, Jazz Band, Wind Ensemble, Stomp Percussion Ensemble, and Chamber Ensembles have performed at hundreds of community music festivals, benefit concerts, firework celebrations, inauguration ceremonies, awards ceremonies, graduation ceremonies, scholarship dinners, parent gatherings, community gatherings, mentoring conferences, international fairs, talent shows, nursing homes, and local school assemblies. Our students have appeared at colleges and universities including Western New England University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Members of the SciTech Band have been chosen to perform with the United States Navy Band, the Massachusetts All-State Lions Band, the Massachusetts Western District Band, the Massachusetts Western District Orchestra, the University of Massachusetts Honor Band, the PS22 Chorus, the Hampshire Young People’s Chorus, the Chicago Children’s Choir, and the world famous Young@Heart Chorus. SciTech Band students have also been selected as feature performers at the 2012 National Education Association Foundation Gala in Washington, D.C. and at the 2015 Massachusetts Governor’s Inauguration Celebration.

In addition to developing quality musicians, the SciTech Band Program is committed to developing quality leaders. Band students actively mentor elementary and middle school students through our Mentoring Through Music Program. Amazingly, 99% of band members have no prior experience playing an instrument or formal music training before entering high school. Even without these years of musical experience and faced with the many challenges of an urban school district, band members’ commitment and dedication continue to inspire students and audiences throughout Massachusetts and beyond.  

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