McLean High School Bands: Recipient of 2017 Sudler Flag of Honor

The McLean High School Bands have been chosen as the recipients of the 2017 Sudler Flag of Honor awarded by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. This award is given to recognize programs that have maintained a history of excellence in performance over an extended period of time under the same director. The award honors all aspects of the band program - concert band, marching band, guard, jazz, all-state, all-district, and percussion. Special congratulations goes to the McLean High School Director of Bands, Mr. Chris Weise.

The Sudler Flag is widely known as the highest possible award that a high school band program can achieve at the national level. McLean High School Band students, over many years, have earned this distinction for their school. Even more outstanding is that the McLean High School Band program is one of only a few band programs in the US that has ever received TWO of these awards. It's first award was in 2000, under the direction of Mr. Kirchenbauer.

"I'd like to thank all of the students, past and present, who have been a part of this history. It is truly an honor to work with you all. This would not be happening without the hard work demonstrated by all of the students every day over many years. You take pride in your work. You perform well because you have pride in your group. This award represents each one of you!" said Weise when he announced the award to his students.

The award will be officially presented to the school by one of the committee chairpersons from the Sousa Foundation at one of the school's concerts in May. Click here for Specific Award Details.

Weise went on to thank the rest of the McLean Band staff. "It takes a village to run this program. Ms. Denson, Dr. Wolf, Mr. Weinhold and Ms. Ries all work very hard to coordinate their individual roles in the program. They are each vital to their areas and the experiences we can offer. I'd also like to thank all of our sectional teachers with the concert bands and our marching band staff members who have all played a hugely important role in our continued success. This includes Mr. Zimmerman, Ms. Gutjahr, Mr. Pittman, Ms. Parrell and Mr. Frederick."

Weise believes that the reason McLean performs so well is because they prepare well. He thinks McLean has the right combination of the best students and the best teachers. His relationship with the administrators and the faculty at McLean is strong. "They give us the freedom and support necessary to create wonderful opportunities for the students," he said. "It is wonderful to work for administrators that understand why the arts are important and necessary in education," he added.

A copy of the application book the school submitted, which includes a full history of the program for the past 7-8 years can be found here: MHS Band Application Submission. Weise gave a huge thanks to Tony Gamboa, who lent graphics design support for the project. Gamboa serves as the Website Manager on the board of the McLean High School Band Parents Association. He spends numerous hours volunteering his time to highlight the achievements of the band program.

The McLean community can be very proud of the accomplishments of the band program at McLean High School. The Band program is very appreciative of all the contributions they receive from the community and hope awards like this show the community how their support helps create rewarding opportunities like this for students.