No, they weren
’t performing as musicians at the event. But the blow-out
success of Sobrato High School’s first Battle of the Bands is
directly attributable to three energetic 15-year-old girls.
Investing many hours of their own off-school time, they nearly
single-handedly organized and planned the event that
drew more than 350 students on a Friday night.
n By Jay jaso
Special to the times
No, they weren’t performing as musicians at the event. But the blow-out success of Sobrato High School’s first Battle of the Bands is directly attributable to three energetic 15-year-old girls. Investing many hours of their own off-school time, they nearly single-handedly organized and planned the event that drew more than 350 students on a Friday night.
Reveling in the success of the event and brimming with confidence about the ability of her team to “put on a show that really rocked and entertained students,” lead organizer Isela Banuelos attributed much of the success to assistants Jenna Spark, a freshman, and Casey White, a sophomore.
The trio are in the leadership component of the school’s Associated Student Body (ASB) organization. Banuelos, a freshman, came up with the idea for the event several months ago. She attended a similar event at Live Oak High School and picked up many ideas that she implemented at Sobrato.
The girls were guided by ASB director Marla Carroll, but were responsible themselves for planning and implementing every detail. They each put in from 30 to 50 hours of their own time to make the event successful.
On their own they came up with details such as including digital pictures on the backstage passes for the 40 plus stage crew members and performers; providing pizza and drinks so that backstage members could work uninterrupted through the three-hour set-up time; developing evaluation criteria and forms for the judges; and organizing and setting up all the lighting and sound systems, including hiring sound technicians.
“Ms. Carroll (ASB director) told us that she would help out when we needed, but that basically we were responsible for all the details of making the event work,” said Spark.
And make it work they did. The smooth-running evening featured approximately 50 songs being performed moved fluidly back-and-forth between two stages, as the girls themselves stayed in constant motion and on top of all the evening’s logistics.
The payback was in the crowd response to the quality of performances and quality of sound.
“We thought that all the performing bands were just great, but especially Sevenson (the winning band) – they were so awesome,” gushed Casey White.
“Based on the great success we had with this event, we’ll probably put one on every year,” Carroll said.
Ticket sales covered all expenses and even allowed enough of a surplus to split nearly $600 in prize money among the top three bands: Sevenson, Pleasure to Burn, and Curbside Attraction (placing first, second, and third, respectively).
