Bloom Band Makes First Appearance at Ford Plant

For the first time in Bloom Township high school history, the marching band performed at the Ford plant.

“Randall from Ford contacted me to see if we had a Mariachi band” said Michael Bielecki, Bloom Township high school band director. “I told him we don’t but we could bring part of the marching band, so we did.”

Randall Willis, team leader and Diversity Chair along with Lisa Bradshaw labor relations and on the diversity committee for the Ford plant.

“We both organized a food truck event for the Ford Hispanic network” said Willis. “This is our third time doing food trucks but the first time celebrating Hispanic Heritage month bringing Bloom Township band here” said Bradshaw. “We wanted to support Ford’s diverse community of employees, so we brought out taco trucks and a Puerto Rican food truck” added Bradshaw. “It was Randall who came up with the idea to bring Bloom Township high school band out in order to support the community” added Bradshaw.

While Ford employees were getting tacos and fried potato balls, members of the Bloom Township high school band began to play some Tejano music. Looking at Bloom Township band, Willis was proud to see the diversity within the band.

“Diversity means everything to me” said Willis. “Since Lisa and I are both diversity instructors, we look at diversity in a vast array of ways. We celebrate our differences.”

Members of the Bloom Township band were thrilled to perform in the front of the Ford plant. The students learned the music in one week.

Nayali Licea from Chicago Heights who is a senior was honored to perform at the Ford plant. “This was nice to play something that’s part of my culture” Licea said. ”Today I got to play songs that I was raised on. My favorite was the Cumbia Medley, which was from the movie Selena. I really enjoy playing for the community because we as a band want to show what we can do. Sometimes Bloom is looked at as a bad school, if the community sees all these good students doing something positive, it looks good for us.”

After performing, the band students enjoyed tacos from the food trucks parked in front.

Aniyah Dillard, from Chicago Heights who began playing an instrument in 4th grade was happy to play at Ford. “I enjoyed today, especially performing Cumbia” said Dillard. “We’re a family in this band. We have students from all different cultures that come together. Yes, sometimes we bicker like any other family but at the end of the day when we all work together, we sound amazing.”

Bloom Township band will be traveling to Disney in May of 2020 to perform. Each band member is raising funds to be able to attend. If you would like to help the Bloom Township Band with their Disney trip, donations on behalf of the band are being accepted by the District 206 Education Foundation located at 100 West 10^th Street in Chicago Heights. Donations can also be made online at www.sd206.org/foundation Make sure you earmark it Disney Band.

All donations are tax deductible.