Cameron High School band welcomes its new directors

The Cameron High School Band Boosters treated recently hired band co-directors Andy Roberts and Clint Kubala to a barbecue dinner, using it as an opportunity for students to meet their new instructors.

During its June meeting last Monday, the Cameron School District unanimous approved hiring Roberts, who spent the 2018-2019 school year as a student teacher in Excelsior Springs, and will take on his first full-time role as band director

“It’s been really exciting. I’ve been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now, at very least. I’m ready to get to work and this is the first big thing of the school year,” Roberts said. “Both [Ann Goodwin and Blake Duren, former CHS band directors] are really well known in this state for having a great program. It’s good that they want to help us keep that going as much as possible.”

Kubala comes to Cameron by way of Oologah, Okla., his home town. He served as assistant band director at Oologah High School, splitting time between instructing the Oologah Middle School band and the OHS jazz band.

“I was very eager to meet [Roberts]. Talking face to face and not through text messages is nice,” Kubala said. “We’re going to figure out how to work together and plan out what’s what going forward.”

The band will hold its summer camp August 4 and capping the camp off with a community review as part of a joint performance with the Cameron Municipal Band. This year the band will have a Mo-Town music theme, which Roberts and Kubala learned less than 30 minutes before their introduction as co-directors.
“For me, as a first-year teacher this is a good place to start because there is stuff that is already in place,” Roberts said. 

Junior drum major Zach Christian said he appreciated the efforts of Goodwin and Duren and looks forward to seeing Roberts and Kubala continue building the program. 
“I feel like we’re going to have a great year. For as much as the directors mean, it is a student band,” Christian said. “We’re stronger and more dedicated than ever so it’s definitely going to be a great year. Last year, we placed first in all of our division in all of our competitions and at the northwest competition we placed second overall. We’ve been very successful as a program. I’m looking forward to being more dedicated and playing a bigger part in our success.”