West Memphis Schools District Band Boosters

07/21/2022

Brice Evans, new band director at AWM, shares some positive vibes with his students. Click for more on his meeting.

06/26/2022

We are excited to welcome Mr. Payden Hill to the West Memphis Band family! Mr. Hill was recently approved by the school board to be the new Director of Percussion for our school district! He recently graduated from UAM and served as an intern for the Monticello School District. Welcome to West Memphis!

04/29/2022

04/14/2022

Brice Evans has come back home!!
Evans was announced as the new Academies of West Memphis Band Director on Monday as he met with the current Blue Devil band students.
Evans, who succeeds Randal Box at the helm, was assistant band director under Cathy Williams from 2001-2010. He comes back to West Memphis after having served as the band and orchestra director at Little Rock Central High School the last 12 years.
"I am excited about being back and I am also impressed with what the school district is doing now to support the band program," said Evans, a graduate of Jonesboro High School. "They are giving as strong a support as any school in the state of Arkansas.
"We also have a great band staff. Lisa Alford taught here when I was here before and Meghan Langley and I taught one year here together before I left and the district has made some really good hires with younger band directors."
Evans will begin his duties this summer just before school starts for the 2022-23 year. He said, upon his recent visit, things look the same, but he couldn't help but notice some changes.
"I think they've renovated this band room twice since I left," Evans said. "It looks different, yet the same. When I lived in Jonesboro, my dad lived in New Orleans and I would drive through West Memphis coming back from New Orleans. Whenever I reached West Memphis I would say to myself I'm almost home. And then when I started working here I would say I am home. So I would say I'm back home. I've already seen some familiar faces. I even had some students today tell me I taught their parents."
Evans said his primary goal for the band program is for students to get to college.
"The No. 1 goal always is when a student graduates from our program, they can get a college band scholarship to the school of their choice," said Evans. "If they can do that, then I'll feel like I'm really successful. We also want to support the community and play at community events, and of course, support the football team at football games in putting on an entertaining halftime show. Then we also want to do well when we go to marching competitions. We want to make superior ratings and to be one of the top three or four bands when they're calling out awards."

02/28/2022

Mr. Porter was one of the most recognized band directors in Crittenden County, AR! 🎺 He dedicated 35 years of his life to teach his passion, music, to students at Wonder Jr. High. 🎶♬♩ He served in the U.S. Army
🇺🇸 for 2 years and was an Army band member. He also held a Music Education degree from Mississippi Valley State University took additional courses from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville & VanderCook College of Music.

02/22/2022

09/15/2021

07/07/2021

Our band will be back, hard at work soon, learning this year’s marching show. The Boosters will provide lunch for the six full work days, but we’d love to have full or partial sponsors for these luncheons (there’s over 100 kids to feed each day!). If any individuals or businesses are interested in helping out, please contact our treasurer, Kelly Pouncey, at 901-409-2418. Thank you!

06/07/2021

This is Kevin Kopps, SEC pitcher of the year...

On the field, he is currently having the greatest season in college baseball history. Off the field...

He's currently working on a masters degree at the University of Arkansas. He graduated with a biomedical engineering bachelors. He took all AP core curricula in high school, while playing trumpet, while being a star baseball player.

You can be in AP classes and band.

You can participate in sports at the highest level and be in band.

You don’t need to choose.

If someone tells you otherwise, seek a second opinion.