New shelves built in band shed

Trux: “The band program really needs all the shelving it can get”

Group+photo+of+everyone+who+came+and+helped+Trux+on+the+final+day

Daniel Conway

Group photo of everyone who came and helped Trux on the final day

Too much stuff and not enough space? Over the past five years that Zachary Borquez has been in charge of the Oak Park Instrumental Music Department, he has brought in many new additions. These additions include new instruments, music lockers, storage bins and equipment for all the different groups that go on during the school year.

From Sept. 8 to 10, as part of his Eagle Scout Service Project, sophomore Nate Trux built new shelving in the band room shed to eliminate the band room’s storage issues. According to the Boy Scouts of America website, the project must benefit any community, religious institution or school.

“The band program needs all the shelving it can get, and it has a lot of extra equipment with no specific place to be stored,” Trux said.

According to Borquez, “countless instruments” and their designated supplies take up much of the space in both the band room and allocated storage areas, like music lockers.

“I would say it is between four or five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of stuff,” Borquez said.

Over the past few years, the music department has received over $450,000 from the Oak Park Unified School District to use for equipment that is shared amongst the middle school and the high school. The money accommodated for lockers, more instruments (for marching band as well), storage spaces, pavilion amenities, marching band uniforms, and drumline equipment.

“There’s a ton of volunteers in the band program, and in my own scout troop who are going to help with the construction,” Trux said.

A group of students who are enrolled in a band or strings class volunteered to help Trux over the Rosh Hashanah holiday weekend.

“We were able to give Nate extra hands and brains during the building,” sophomore and volunteer Liam Case said.

Trux has been a scout for eight years, and this project is a large step in becoming an Eagle Scout. Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the scouting program, according to the National Eagle Scout Association.

“The process of becoming an Eagle Scout could take anywhere from 5 to 10 years depending on how long it takes and how hard you work,” Trux said.

Parent volunteer and project mentor Kurt Statts said that in the early 1980s when he was a boy scout the process was about the same. For his Eagle Scout project, Statts worked with his high school administration to place a picnic area outside the library.

“[Trux] proposed his project I guess through his regular scout troop process, but also brought his plans to me to look over to offer any advice and to just check that the design made sense,” Statts said. “He was very diligent about it.”

As of now, the Oak Park marching band has around 70 members, which Borquez hopes to see increase to over 100 in the next two years. This would put the marching band from their current 2A division marching band to the more competitive 3A division. Money previously granted toward storage areas could be reinvested to expand member participation.

“Marching band — we could definitely use more support staff and everything to help run the operation to take the load off myself and the student leadership,” Borquez said.