History

History of TCNJ Pep Band

TCNJ Pep Band was started in 2014. However, in tracing the history of TCNJ, one can see that there are multiple bands that have existed that all have the same purpose of sharing music.

Executive Board: 2014

President: Samuel Nemeth, Music; American Political Communication ‘16

Vice President: None first year

Secretary: Mylin Batipps, Journalism; Linguistics minor ‘15

Treasurer: Andrew Hood, Accounting Information Systems; Management minor ‘16

Starting number of members ca. 18-25

Section leaders: None first year

Sam Nemeth is the leading alumni that is responsible for TCNJ Pep Band being created. Below in his own words, he describes how he succeeded in creating TCNJ Pep Band and we have only grown in size and popularity.

"Most of us recognized the drop in attendance and enthusiasm surrounding our fall sports after the first few weeks of the semester. After getting the green light to build some sort of infrastructure, we then decided that the best course of action would be to seek approval as a student organization. We targeted homecoming weekend as our public debut date, and so the clock was certainly working against us. I, and elected Treasurer Andrew (Drew) Hood, and Secretary Mylin Batipps, along with our advisor, Dr. David Vickerman, put the various plans into place for the upcoming challenge: gaining approval as a student organization."

"I was so lucky to have been supported by about 10 of our signed-on members who came to watch the proceedings. After a unanimous approval, the first organization ever passed without debate, we began to put together the necessary paperwork meeting in front of the Student Finance Board (SFB) executives the following week. We had to demonstrate that the Pep Band would require significant funding if it were to get off the ground, because we needed to purchase a slew of instruments, music, and supplies. I will always be grateful to then-SFB President Brian Hurler and Vice President Sara Stammer for their willingness to fast-track our funding approval."

"Knowing that we did not have much time, we set right to work with our purchases, which, for the first year alone, consisted of two bass drums, two marching snares, a set of quads, a contra marching tuba, piccolos, and mellophones, along with a great deal of new music to revitalize the Pep Band’s library, lyres, and folios. If I remember correctly, some of our early music purchases were Land of a Thousand Dances, Take on Me, Everytime we Touch, and Bad Romance. After what seemed like a whirlwind month of preparation and rehearsal, our first performances were on October 25, 2014, at Homecoming. We first performed at the Homecoming Main Stage as part of a lineup of performing arts-related student organizations and then walked (really, cadenced) over to the football stadium for the game against William Paterson."