Help Me March My First Summer of Drum Corps!

It’s Anna Vukmirovich and I hope 2019 has been as good to you so far as it has to me! So far in 2019, I’ve changed my major to exercise science at Indiana University, I’ve joined a sorority, and most excitingly, I was selected to be a part of the 2019 Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps bass-drum line. This has been a dream of mine ever since I was in eighth grade and saw my first real drum corps show. When I saw how dedicated, musical, artistic, and prestigious being in a drum corps was, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of one day, and I was determined to work as hard as it took to make it.

Drum Corps International is an organization essentially made up of dozens of marching bands (corps) that are composed of world class musicians and dancers, who are all competing to win the world championship at DCI finals in Indianapolis. It sounds like a simple concept, but in reality is one of the most grueling, yet worthwhile experiences you will ever face. To earn a spot in a corps, you must attend multiple weekend camps that take place in November, December, January, and April to determine if you’re suitable as a performer and an athlete to be a part of the drum corps you’re auditioning for. If you are selected, you spend the entirety of your summer with the drum corps learning a show, putting it on the field, traveling around the United States, and performing your show at venues all over the country for thousands of people.

Although it sounds exhausting, this has been my dream for over seven years, and I’m finally getting the opportunity to live out that dream this summer. With that dream comes a price: $4,200. While that price may seem extreme, we quite literally have every amenity we need included in the price, such as housing, food, performance entry costs, charter buses, as well as paying the world class staff that will be traveling with the Blue Stars who help maximize our performance potential and teach us things that will remain with us long after drum corps concludes.

Due to being in college and being broke as it is, I am asking for your help. ANY amount would be appreciated, as every cent helps me to be one step closer to a summer of music, performing, learning, friends, life-long-lessons, and fulfilled-dreams.