Middle School Music Directors:

Band:  Mr. Brett Welly

Choral: Miss Celia DeTray 

Special Event:

Hello Lakota Raiders! 

This year, the Raider Marching Band will be hosting its first ever Mini Auxiliary Night!! Your student will be able to join either our Majorette (baton) or Color Guard (flag) units in learning and performing a routine for our Friday, September 5th halftime show! This event is open to students entering grade 3-8. There will be a small participation fee to help cover for materials, this fee being $5. 

There will be 4 practices that students should expect to join us for on the following Monday's and Wednesday's: August 25th, 27th, September 1st and 3rd. These practices will be 3-4 p.m.

On Friday, September 5th, we will gather at 5:00 p.m. to run through and review our show, then march to the stadium together at about 6:30. Students will then join families to support our football team. An announcement will be made just before halftime for our Mini Auxiliary members to meet on the track and get in position. After our fantastic performance, which will begin at about 8:00 p.m., students will be dismissed to either watch the rest of the game, or head home for bed time for our younger members. 

Please RSVP via the Google Form below no later than August 22nd so that the Band Program can plan supplies and routines accordingly. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Band Director Mr. Welly (bwelly@lakotaschools.org) or our Auxiliary Advisors: Guard Advisor Miss Ivy Rubel (419) 806-9822 or Majorette Advisor Miss Caidence Iler (419) 575-0197. 

Link:    https://forms.gle/8TFHr4qA2Thm8sfz6

Important Dates:

• Band Camp:

August 4-8, 2025 @8:30am-4:30pm

• Marching Band Parent Preview Night:

August 8, 2025 @6:30pm

• Patriotic Football Game Combined Band/Choir Performance:

Friday, September 26, 2025 @7:00pm

• Apple Festival Parade:

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @2:00pm (Oak Harbor, Ohio)

• Sounds of the Stadium Concert:

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 @7:00pm

• LHS Fall Play:

Friday, November 14, 2025 @7:00pm

Saturday, November 15, 2025 @2:00pm & @7:00pm

• Seasons Greetings Winter Concert:

Thursday, December 11, 2025 @7:00pm

• Lakota Local Schools Winter Sing-Along:

Friday, December 19, 2025 @6:00pm

• Middle School Honors Festival Performance:

Saturday, February 14, 2026 @7:00pm (Tiffin, Ohio)

• High School D2 Large Group Preview Concert:

Thursday, February 26, 2026 @7:00pm

• High School D2 Large Group Contest:

Friday/Saturday, March 6/7, 2026 @TBA (Oak Harbor, Ohio)

• Nashville Trip:

Thursday-Saturday, March 12-14, 2026 (Nashville, Tennessee)

• Middle School Solo & Ensemble:

Thursday, March 21, 2026 @All Day (New London, Ohio)

• 5th Grade Spring Concert:

Thursday, April 30, 2026 @7:00pm

• Fine Arts Festival:

Friday-Saturday, May 15-16, 2026 @TBA

• Music Awards Banquet:

Thursday, May 21, 2026 @6:00pm

• Memorial Day Parade:

Monday, May 25, 2026

• Senior Awards Ceremony/Graduation Rehearsal:

Thursday, May 28, 2026 @6:00pm

• 2026 Graduation Ceremony:

Sunday, May 31, 2026 @2:00pm

2026 Nashville Trip:

We are VERY excited to travel to Nashville, Tennessee this spring for our bi-annual music department trip! Below is information regarding our trip. Please contact the Directors for further information. 

Date: March 12th-14th, 2026

• Itinerary 

• Donations Flyer

• Payment Information

• Trip Insurance

2025 Fall Play Information:

We are excited to announce that Lakota Local Schools is performing a Fall play this year! This Fall Play is a series of 3 mini comedy plays sure to make you laugh! We are performing "Check Please", "How to Get Away with a Murder Mystery", and "The Internet is a Distract- Oh Look a Kitten".

Synopsis: 

• Check Please: Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a raging kleptomaniac, or your grandmother's bridge partner, or a mime. Check Please follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn't get any worse -- until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?

• How to Get Away with a Murder Mystery: Five mysterious color-coded guests. A mansion. A murder. Can the killer get away with it? And how will the sleuths bring them to justice? A handy guide for how to escape the law when you just happen to be a prime suspect of a mysterious murder. Told in vignettes in a style similar to 10 Ways To Survive The Zombie Apocalypse, this show hilariously skewers the tropes of the murder mystery: an airtight alibi, a long-winded monologue by a detective with an accent, an impossibly complicated Rube Goldberg murder device? Check, check, and check!

• The Internet is a Distract- Oh Look a Kitten: Micah only has twenty minutes to finish her paper on The Great Gatsby. She just needs to check a few facts on the internet first. Unfortunately, the web is a nefariously wacky place where boxing cats, Facebook lurkers, and pig-throwing games threaten to take over Micah's schoolwork, or worse. Will she finish her paper and escape with her life before the school bell rings? A high-octane comedy that explores the rabbit hole of distraction we all go down every time we go online.

Show Dates: Friday, November 14, 2025 @7:00pm and Saturday, November 15, 2025 @2:00pm & @7:00pm.

Ticket Prices: TBA

Contact: For more information, please contact the Director, Miss DeTray, at cdetray@lakotaschools.org.

Music Booster Meetings:

We’d love to have your input in the planning for our music kids! Meetings are on the last Monday of each month at 6:30 PM at Lakota Local Schools. 

2025-2026 Music Leadership 

Choral:

5th Grade Choral Officers: 

6th Grade Choral Officers: 

7th Grade Choral Officers: 

2025 Prestigious Music Award Recipients:

5th Grade 

• Most Valuable Singer: Colton Albert

• Most Valuable Player: Ava Brubaker

• Most Improved Singer: Emersyn Humphrey

• Most Improved Player: Hank Griffin

6th Grade

• Most Valuable Singer: Lillian Schieb

• Most Valuable Player: Alyssa Ross

• Most Improved Singer: David Wittes

• Most Improved Player: Sophia Mullholand

7th Grade

• Most Valuable Singer: Gracie Cymbola

• Most Valuable Player: Maelie Sun

• Most Improved Singer: Averie Widman

• Most Improved Player: Sapphira Joo

8th Grade

• Most Valuable Choral Student: Bailynn Keeran

• Most Valuable Instrumental Student: Ezekiel Ley

• Most Improved Choral Student: Ellie Craig

• Most Improved Instrumental Student: Lyllian Shilling

• Choral Directors Choice Award: Shelby Biddle

• Instrumental Directors Choice Award: Braylen Reddick

Links:

NAFME

OMEA

OMEA District II

Forte Music