Cody Appell: The Mentor Behind the Music

When I got the call to be involved [with the band] again, I said absolutely. I wanted to have a positive impact on this program, because it’s had a positive impact on me [as a former ROWVA student]. I wasn’t really good at sports or anything when I was in school, but band was my thing. And I know there are a lot of students just like that at ROWVA.

I help teach band camp every single year. That’s one of my favorite weeks. We start from scratch on learning a new halftime show for football games, and we also do field show competitions. It’s a lot of fun putting that together. … I help arrange the percussion scores each year as well.

I advocate for things that the program needs. This past winter, we realized we were going to need some additional uniforms. I ended up negotiating a deal with a uniform company and got new uniforms for the students from the district.

It’s nice to have students who want to pursue new opportunities [and] music outside of school. Typically, we have one or two in each class who might want to pursue [music], but it seems like there’s an influx now.

It’s important to me because it’s important to the community. You can talk to a lot of people in this community—they’ve been in the program or they’ve seen the program. They enjoy watching the band at parades or at football games. … It’s important for not only the students in the school but also the community to have the bands available to listen to and have the program flourish.