Play on North Chicago

The North Chicago High School Band is the only band in Illinois this year that will be attending the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis Tennessee on December 31, 2013. The event airs on ESPN at 3pm CST and begins with a parade down the famous “Beale Street.” What is so remarkable about this event is that in the beginning of the year the band discovered that they would need to raise $16,000 in order to participate. While that number seemed to be far-fetched, the band teacher Mr. Presley decided that it would be his goal to get these kids there. His goal was to keep these kids excited about being in the band and also wanted the children to have memories of this exhilarating event.

The NCHS Band has successfully been able to meet deadlines in order to get them to the “bowl,” coming up with $1500 at the first deadline in order to hold their spot. This figure included them raising $800 in Tee-shirt sales at one football game alone. Mr. Presley was excited, even more exciting was when after posting a social media message about the event he began to receive donations from as far away as Riverside, California, as well as numerous local donators who wanted to get these kids to Tennessee.

To date the band has risen close to a whopping $13,000 and the students are very close to meeting their goal. For anyone interested in assisting the NCHS Band reach their goal please contact Mr. Presley at rpresley@d187.org or send a check or money order made payable to “North Chicago High School Band” at the school's address:

North Chicago High School

Attention: Mr. Presley/High School Band

1717 17th St.

North Chicago, IL 60064