South Houston High's new band cargo trailer, on display last week at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
In addition to drums, saxophones, xylophones, trombones, trumpets and tubas, the South Houston High School band now has wheels to haul it all around.
Thanks to a major contribution from the South Houston High School Alumni Association –- and the generosity and hard work of others –- the Mighty Trojan Band now owns a big-rig cargo trailer, freshly painted and decorated on both sides with a towering image of Hector the Trojan.
“What a great addition to our school and our band,” said the Rev. Emory Gadd, associate pastor of Sagemont Church and a 1965 South Houston graduate. “This will elevates us with great publicity everywhere this trailer goes!”
"The trailer will be a tremendous source of pride, not only for our band, but for our school and our community," said Dr. Steve Fullen, South Houston’s principal.
"I'm sure that all South Houston High School graduates will feel the same way when they see it at football games, in the school parking lot or cruising down the road. This is a wonderful example of what the partnership between our school, our school district and our alumni can provide."
The 48-foot trailer is similar to custom trailers used by the bands at Dobie High and Memorial High. Many large high school bands in recent years have acquired big-rig cargo trailers to carry instruments and heavy equipment to football games, marching contests and other performance events.
The Dobie and Memorial bands bought their trailers with contributions from booster clubs, parents and business donations. With little access to those kinds of resources, bands at South Houston, Pasadena High and Sam Rayburn High have used rental trucks on an event-by-event basis to transport their equipment.
With the South Houston trailer ready for delivery, plans are to acquire and customize trailers for the bands at Pasadena and Sam Rayburn using the same alumni association fund-raising model.
South Houston’s alumni association, formed just two years ago, immediately went to work on the project. Trojan alums contributed $6,500 toward acquiring and decorating the trailer.
Another $2,500 was obtained through a mini-grant donation from Danny Hickey, owner of ADS Custom Signs, which handled the graphics installation. Another $1,000 was pledged by private sources.
The Trojan image used for the trailer was offered at no charge by Patterson Designs. The image is the same close-up image of Hector used for a mural in the yet-to-open Trojans Gymnasium on campus.
Acquisition of the trailer was made with the assistance of several Pasadena ISD administrators, among them South Houston Principal Dr. Steve Fullen; South Houston Band Director Kim Smith; Dustin Winson, the district’s assistant director of fine arts; and two associate superintendents: Dr. Rhonda Parmer and Dr. Troy McCarley.
The trailer made its public debut at the Pasadena ISD Police Department’s car and truck show last Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
South Houston alumni will have a chance to look it over at the Alumni Association’s annual general meeting on April 24 at the school. The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m.
Photo here and photos below show the progress of the design work on the outside of the trailer. Here, the trailer arrives at the Pasadena ISD bus lot with a fresh coat of paint.
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