PCHS marching band directs itself

DUNMORE -- The Pocahontas County High School marching band has been making a lot of noise, literally and figuratively, in recent weeks.

The nine students who make up the band have been getting a lot of attention, both in news print media and on television, due to their heroic effort to come together and succeeding without having a band director.

Not only was the band recently featured in an article by the Washington Post, but they also made their television debuts in a segment featured on ABC's "Good Morning America."

At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, members of the band were informed that the PBHS band director had accepted another job at another school and would be leaving Pocahontas County High. 

Unable to find a replacement for the position, the students were given the option of either quitting and signing up for something else, or to march forward and teach themselves.

"I said that we'd had zero applicants, and since we didn't have an instructor, we'd have to get them into other classes," Principle Joseph Riley told the Washington Post. "I told them, 'You all know how to play, so just play. You can do this.'"

The band had 38 members at the beginning of the school year: nine elected to stay in the band without a band director.

There are three drummers currently in the band, which also includes a tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet.

The band consists of Eric Dibble, Miles Fitzgerald, Hailey Fitzgerald, Miya Johnson, Emilynn Hall, Olivia Hamilton, Kaidence Cutlip, Jaydn Lane and Reggie Whiting.

After the students decided to work, practice and perform on their own, the band still needed teacher sponsors during performances at football games and concerts. But two Pocahontas County High School math teachers, Casey Griffith and Jennifer Nail-Cook, agreed to handle those duties for the band this year.

"To see them stepping up into big leadership roles and putting themselves in the spotlight is huge," Griffith told "Good Morning America."

The band is scheduled to play a Veterans Day Ceremony at school and will march in the Marlinton Christmas Parade. The possibility of putting on a Christmas Concert is still in the works, and they have been invited to play at a Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting.