RSDMF Volunteer Opportunities and Committees

There are many volunteer opportunities for parents to help our students. In addition to volunteer opportunities documented herein, parents can attend the RSDMF Parent Meetings to learn about more volunteer opportunities.

• The following positions are appointed by the RSDMF Board at the beginning of the new school year. People interested in an open chairperson position should contact parents@vhsmusic.org. People interested in participating on a particular committee should contact parents@vhsmusic.org and/or the respective committee chairperson listed below.
• Click on a committee name to learn more about each committee’s charter. If you prefer to volunteer for a fundraising activity contact the Fundraising Chairperson below or see Fundraisers.

Committees

Alumni Committee

The Alumni Committee serves as liaison between current VHS Band and Color Guard members and VHS Alumni and their families. The committee collects and maintains alumni information for the web site, communicates with alumni regarding current band and color guard activities that may be of interest to alumni, highlights the alumni in articles for the Norsemen Notes newsletter, and seeks alumni support for special fundraisers.

Auction Committee

The Auction Committee is responsible for organizing RSDMF’s annual silent/live auction each spring semester. Auction Committee volunteers will send preprinted letters, visit vendors, solicit donations items, make baskets, and set up the room for the event. Committee volunteers will help identify additional vendors, create the Fun Baskets, seek item and gift card donations for each basket, develop the silent/live auction program, and wrap each basket. Although this is annual spring event, the Auction Committee must begin soliciting Fun Basket donations during the fall semester.

Awards Banquet Committee

The Award Banquet Committee is responsible for organizing the end of the year Instrumental Music and Color Guard Awards Banquet. This celebration typically is scheduled at the end of May after most of the spring competitions and school performances are completed. The Awards Banquet Committee will identify and secure an awards banquet location, arrange for the catered dinner, develop the evening’s program, coordinate advance ticket sales, decorate the room, and cleanup the room at the end of the night.

Chaperone Committee

The Chaperone Committee is responsible for coordinating volunteers for all marching band and color guard competitions. The Chaperone Committee will travel by bus or caravan to each event - it is a full day commitment. These parents assist the Uniform Team in prepping students for a band review or field tournament and for the following awards ceremony. Additional duties include providing water, serving food, and many other tasks as needed. The Chaperone Committee consists of 4-5 parents per event. Committee members need to pay for their own ticket (approx. $10.00) for the awards ceremony in the evening.

Communications Committee

The Communications Committee is responsible for most all communications from the Music Director, Staff, and RSDMF Board to all VHS Instrumental Music and Color Guard Families. The communications typically take the form of emails and are frequently coordinated with the Webmaster Committee to ensure the same information is being distributed by all media formats. The Communications Committee is responsible for forwarding and formatting the email information, but rarely is responsible for generating the email content.

Equipment and Transportation Committee

The Equipment and Transportation (E&T) Committee is responsible for trailers and equipment for the marching season and percussion events. For each field tournament the E&T Committee must arrange for two Trailer Drivers: one driver to tow the large box trailer with the students’ instruments and uniforms, and a second driver to tow the small trailer carrying “Snowball,” the golf cart. The E&T Committee coordinates with the school staff to make sure the drivers have or will receive the required schedules, maps and parking passes. E&T Committee members are frequently members of the Pit Crew too.

Festival Concessions Committee

The Festival Concessions Committee is responsible for organizing food concessions for multiple music events that involve our students. Specific responsibilities include selecting the menu (and coordinating prices with the RSDMF Board); seeking donations for or buying food; ensuring BBQs, tables, chairs, ice chests, shade canopies, garbage cans, eating utensils, etc. are on site (including setup and tear down); and ensuring appropriate numbers of adults and students are scheduled for each work shift. Music events that the Festival Concessions Committee will typically be responsible for include the Winter Concert, VHS Jazz Festival, VHS Band & Orchestra Festival (located at SDSU), and the Pops Concert. The End-of-Band Camp BBQ and Awards Banquet might also involve this committee.

Freshman/New Student Liaison Committee

Committee members help organize the freshmen contact information at the end of each school year for the beginning of the new school year and they make “first contact” with each Freshman family. Incoming freshman parent(s) are ideal for this position because they know the 8th graders better, and they can ease the transition for freshman families. Liaison activities might include coordinating music events that are co-hosted by VHS and Hillsdale Middle School, coordinating fundraising activities, and/or sharing music achievements for newsletter publications. Committee may also coordinate visits by school staff or by board members to promote band and color guard programs for both schools.

Fundraising Committee

There are many different Fundraising Committees. There is a single Fundraising Chairperson that is responsible for coordinating the bulk of the fundraising activities undertaken by the RSDMF parents, band, and color guard students each year. The Fundraising Chairperson’s primary duty is to identify a Lead for each of the fundraising activities and help that lead find committee volunteers for each fundraising event. Some RSDMF Fundraisers run all year long, e.g., eScrip, Team Angel, and Car Washes; while other fundraisers are a single event, e.g., Horse Apple Drop and the Silent/Live Auction. The Fundraising Chairperson is ex officio a member of all the fundraising committees.

Historian Committee

The Historian Committee is responsible for collecting and documenting all activities, scores, and awards for each of the band and color guard programs. The Historian Committee will track band and color guard program schedules and obtain information about scores and awards after each competition. The scores and awards information will be appropriately documented and forwarded to the Webmaster for inclusion on the program web pages. The Historian Committee should also be a regular contributor to the Norsemen Notes newsletter.

Hospitality Committee

The Hospitality Committee coordinates food for band camp, marching season competitions, and refreshments for concerts and special events. The Hospitality Committee plans meals and/or needed food and drink donations for students and staff for each field tournament. Some meals may be purchased in the vicinity of the event, picked up, and served to the students. For concerts and special events, the Hospitality Committee plans for tables, umbrellas, grills, ice chests, and food and drink products as needed. 4-6 parents make up the Hospitality Committee.

Membership Committee

The Membership Committee promotes RSDMF membership. They seek members at the beginning of school and to continue to work with the parents throughout the year to get them to join. They ensure RSDMF Members are informed of member only activities and they ensure members receive their membership gifts. They coordinate with the RSDMF Secretary to ensure the membership roster is up to date.

Newsletter Committee

The Newsletter Committee coordinates with all RSDMF members, parents, music staff, and students to collect information and stories for publication in the Norsemen Notes newsletter.

Parent Liaisons

Spring semester band and color guard programs utilize Parent Liaisons to help coordinate practice times, uniforms, competition events, and travel arrangements. Parent Liaison positions are available for Color Guard, Jazz Ensemble, and Drum Line.

Photographer Committee

The Photographer Committee is an ad-hoc group of photographers – ALL PARENTS ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS AND VIDEOGRAPHERS. We just need someone to organize this group. The committee chairperson will work to ensure all events are covered. Photographs taken or collected should be forwarded to the Webmaster with date and event information for inclusion in the appropriate band and color guard program web pages.

Pit Crew Committee

Six or seven parents are usually required for Pit Crew duties. They assist the students in loading and unloading the pit instruments, sound equipment, field props, and ladders from “Snowball” and the trailer during home football games and field tournaments. To ensure everyone knows their duties, the Pit Crew will be required to participate in a few rehearsals at the beginning of the school year. During field events the Pit Crew Chairperson will be responsible for closely coordinating the timing and location of Pit Crew activities with those of the Marching Band and Color Guard.

Publicity Committee

The Publicity Committee is responsible for identifying all instrumental music and color guard events and making sure this information is made available to all RSDMF members, parents, music staff, students, and the Valhalla High School (VHS) community. Publicity forums include the band and color guard web site, the Norsemen Notes newsletter, VHS Online calendar, VHS Daily Bulletin, the ValhallaLine News, the Saga, VHS electronic message board, email, and phone calls. The Publicity Committee will likely coordinate with the music staff and with the parent liaisons for each of the band and color guard programs.

Stadium Concessions Committee

The Stadium Concessions Committee is responsible for organizing volunteers from our many families to work stadium concessions for a percent of the concession stand(s) profits. The Stadium Concessions Committee is responsible for working with the RSDMF Board to obtain a concessions agreement/contract, to obtain a large body of volunteers for each stadium event date, and to make sure the volunteers are appropriately trained and dressed and managed for each event. The most profitable concessions stands will be given to the largest and most dependable volunteer groups. Both Centerplate and Aramark welcome non-profit organizations like RSDMF to work their concession stands in order to raise funds. They are responsible for concessions at locations like Qualcomm Stadium, Valley View Casino Center (formerly San Diego Sports Arena), and Cricket Wireless Ampitheater. Centerplate and Aramark have different food handling
training requirements and depending on the concession location may restrict students under age 18 from working.

Uniform Committee

The Uniform Committee is responsible for ensuring the Marching Band uniforms, hats, and shoes are correctly sized, organized, measured, sewn, and repaired. The Uniform Committee requires a minimum of 4-5 parents and typically meets on Monday and Thursday nights, and at competitions, to ensure the uniforms are properly maintained, cleaned and accounted for. The Uniform Committee assists students with their uniforms at all home football games and field competitions. Volunteers are needed to ensure uniforms and hats are properly distributed, hair is properly fixed, and to check uniforms in after each performance.

During uniform fitting the committee will teach students: how to put their hair up (including guys with long hair), what supplies they will need to purchase (hair nets, hair bands, spray, gel and goop), and how to hang their uniforms properly. No makeup is allowed - only sunscreen. No earrings or other facial jewelry is allowed. Committee members will advise parents to wash white t-shirts and gloves before/after every competition. Any parents interested in going on band trips as uniform parents should sign up for at least 1 day of band camp to become learned about uniforms.

Webmaster Committee

The Webmaster Committee is responsible for maintaining the Valhalla Marching Band & Color Guard web site and ensuring it is operational and viewable to the VHS Community. The Webmaster receives questions and suggestions regarding the web site and ensures necessary changes and corrections are made in a timely manner.