Last week the Wimberley High School Band Boosters held an overnight Rock-o-Thon fundraiser. Texan band members and students spent the night in the school cafeteria rocking in rocking chairs to fund the band’s annual Spring trip. In past years, Spring trips have taken students to South Padre Island, Disneyworld, to ski locations, and last year, to Hawaii to march in the National Vietnam Veterans Parade in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Wimberley’s Texan Band was selected to represent the state of Texas in the parade.
Rock-o-Thon checkin began at 10 p.m. and a minimum pledge of $60 was required to participate. Donors pledged either a flat amount or an amountper- hour to sponsor each high schooler to rock all night.
Students moved aside tables in the cafeteria to create a barricade for watching shows or playing games. They were encouraged to bring games, electronics, consoles, and other forms of entertainment to the event.
At 11 p.m. the Rocko- Thon officially began. The lights were turned off and students began rocking with the announcement, “And we’re rocking. . .” from Texan Band director John Winebrenner.
After 45 minutes, the lights were turned on and rockers were given a 15-minute break to walk around, stretch and mingle. The breaks continued every hour through the night until the fundraiser ended at 7 a.m. If a student fell asleep during the night, Winebrenner brought cymbals from the band hall and crashed them next to the sleeping participant. All in good fun, the cymbal wakeup call was, according to students, completely effective.
To keep participants alert and to avoid Winebrenner’s wake-up call, band members snacked on an unlimited supply of popcorn through the night.
