ELKVIEW, W.Va. — The Herbert Hoover High School marching band is standing a little taller and playing a little sharper since historic flood waters destroyed the school building in Northern Kanawha County on June 23.
“We’re not missing a beat this year,” said Meleah Fisher, band director at Hoover. “There’s been a little drive with everybody to see how hard we can go.”
The band will perform Friday night during their first football game at Scott High School in Boone County. It’s their first public appearance since the high waters washed away all of their instruments, uniforms and equipment.
“We don’t want people to look at us and see the flood. We want them to look at us and see an amazing band,” said Wesley Monk, a senior trombone player.
Immediately after the disaster, Fisher reached out to other band programs and organizations from across the nation through their website and social media. Fortunately, they were able to restock their instruments and other necessary items.
On Friday night, the band will be wearing donated uniforms from Annandale High School in Virginia which bears an “A” on the chest.
“We were going to try to change it to an “H” and I thought, you know, we need to be humble and just go with what we got,” Fisher said.
The biggest challenge for Fisher has been “just figuring it out.”
“How do you do it? How do I handle this? Do I accept this donation from somebody? Where do I find a place to store it?” she said. “It’s been the craziest adventure I’ve ever been on and school didn’t prepare me for this.”
This year’s program is entitled “One For the Road” — a show about construction work.
Trace Mahan, a senior trumpet player, said a lot of positive change has come from the disaster.
“Everything that we do together is as one — guard, band, low brass, drums — everything,” he said. “Especially this year, we all work together a lot more.”
A few students used band as an escape from the horrific reality at home, Fisher said.
“One of them just said ‘I’m so glad I have band.’ She said ‘You know, I just really need to get away’,” Fisher said.
“We had some people in the band who were affected by the flood and then that just brought us even closer together to help them,” said Lilly Nichols, a senior, who serves as the band’s field commander.
The band has been rehearsing at Elkview Middle School where Hoover students are attending on a split schedule until portable classrooms are installed on campus. It’s been a difficult adjustment for students who witnessed the devastation at Hoover. The school sustained 70 percent damage, according to county assessments.
“I cried,” one student said. “There was no way to describe it honestly,” said another.
“I don’t think we knew what to think,” Nichols said.
The moment Fisher said she felt a sense of ownership, being that they have to rehearse at a different school, came when Elkview Middle Principal Melissa Lovejoy told her she could paint yard lines on their parking lot to serve as their practice space for now.
“We know we’re guests and we don’t want to be intrusive, but as simple as putting those lines down — it made me feel like I belong,” Fisher said.
Friday night’s game will be special, but Fisher said she’s most looking forward to Hoover’s home game next month.
“I don’t think there’s going to be anywhere to sit down,” she said. “The community needs it.”
Fisher said they’ll continue to work hard to shed light on what she defines as the town’s “new normal.”
“Sometimes the worst brings out the best in you and maybe that’s what’s going on with our community,” she said. “The old normal is gone.”