Congrats to the Central State University alumnus Donshon Wilson, band director at Shaw HS. The band was featured this evening on NBC Nightly News.

And Shaw's band will play in China
Friday, February 15, 2008
Connie Schultz
Plain Dealer Columnist
Donshon Wilson picked up his ringing phone on the morning of Monday, Jan. 28, and heard an excited voice on the line.

"You've got to get to the treasurer's office right away," an East Cleveland school administrator said.

No sooner had he hung up the phone when it rang again. By the third call, the Shaw High School Marching Band director decided to see what was wrong.

Wilson walked into the office and saw several school board administrators and staffers standing around. Some of them were crying.

"Look," one of them said, pointing to two post office bins brimming with letters. "That's all for you."

"Yeah, right," he said.

The school district's treasurer, Mary Ann Nowak, laughed. She knew exactly how Wilson was feeling. She had taken one look at the pile of letters and said, "What in the world?"

"It's your mail," her secretary said.

"That's impossible," Nowak said. "We don't get that kind of mail."

Then she started to read the letters.

"Oh, my God," she said, pulling out one check after another. "It's the response to the story."

On Friday, Jan. 25, we ran a column about how Wilson and his Mighty Cardinal Marching Band were invited to perform in events leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. They are a small but spectacular band of kids who live in one of the poorest cities in America. Under Wilson's leadership, they have won more than 150 awards in competitions around the country.

The invitation to perform in China is a great honor. But it came with a hefty price tag: $220,000. That didn't even include money needed for passports, immunizations, luggage, toiletries and new band uniforms.

By Jan. 24, the band had raised $73,000 through individual contributions and corporate pledges. They had eight weeks to raise the rest.

So, I asked Plain Dealer readers to help.

Boy, did you.

Checks started coming in from across town and around the nation.

Self-described "band geeks" stepped up big time. College band alumni associations sent out appeals to members. High school bands held fund-raisers or set up jars at their own events.

Most of the money, though, came from individuals who just thought the kids of Shaw High School's marching band deserved the chance to represent our country.

"I'm between jobs so money is really tight," wrote a Cleveland woman, "but I hope that this $10 helps."

"I wish we had a million dollars to send you because you are worth it," wrote an older couple from the West Side who sent $25.

"I'm on Social Security," wrote an elderly woman, "but my grandson plays drums in his marching band, so this $25 is in his honor."

"If for some reason you don't raise enough money, take the kids to get some ice cream," wrote a man who contributed $50.

That ice cream will have to wait.

The band has a flight to catch.

On Day One, contributions totaled $61,504.

Day Two: $34,874.

Day Three: $37,869.

And on and on.

As of Thursday, Nowak said Plain Dealer readers had raised $246,528.49.

The band's grand total so far is $287,528.60, which doesn't include corporate pledges, said Superintendent Myrna Loy Corley.

But this story is not just about money, which Wilson made clear to his students last week.

"I want you to think of the responsibility that comes with this," he told them at band practice. "Think about what all these people were willing to do for you. They read a story. They wrote letters. Then they pulled out their checkbooks so that you could go to China."

Contributions, which are tax deductible, can be made to: Shaw High School Marching Band, 14305 Shaw Ave., East Cleveland, OH 44112. For details, call 216-268-6580.

To reach Connie Schultz:

cschultz@plaind.com, 216-999-5087

Shaw Band Website

I was the assistant band director for Donshon Wilson at CSU. Atta boy Donshon.

So you know Dr. Art Thomas.
Hi props to the SHAW HIGH FAMILY!

Congrats Donshon!!

quote:

Originally posted by THE DREAMER:
So you know Dr. Art Thomas.
Hi props to the SHAW HIGH FAMILY!

Dr. Art Thomas was my president.

quote:

Originally posted by Old School:

quote:

Originally posted by THE DREAMER:
So you know Dr. Art Thomas.
Hi props to the SHAW HIGH FAMILY!

Dr. Art Thomas was my president.

Know your history.

Source: The Blackmarket.com

March 1, 1994 - Leonard S. Coleman, Jr. elected president of the National Baseball League.

March 2, 1867 - U.S. Congress enacts charter to establish Howard University.

March 3, 1865 - Freeman's Bureau established by federal government to aid newly freed slaves.

March 4, 1965 - Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics honored as NBA most valuable player for fourth time in five years.

March 5, 1770 - Crispus Attucks becomes one of the first casualties of the American Revolution.

March 6, 1857 - U.S. Supreme Court issues Dred Scott decision.

March 7, 1965 - U.S. Supreme Court upholds key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

March 8, 1977 - Henry L. Marsh III becomes first African American elected mayor of Richmond, Va.

March 9, 1941 - Amistad mutineers freed by U.S. Supreme Court.

March 10, 1913 - Harriet Tubman dies.

March 11, 1959 - Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin In the Sun" opens at Barrymore Theater, New York, the first play by a Black woman to premier on Broadway.

March 12, 1932 - Andrew Young, former U.N. ambassador and former mayor of Atlanta, born.

March 13, 1773 - Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, black pioneer and explorer, founded Chicago.

March 14, 1965 - Montgomery bus boycott ends when municipal bus service is desegregated.

March 15, 1988 - Eugene Antonio Marino, first Black archbishop, assigned to Atlanta.

March 16, 1846 - Rebecca Cole, second Black female physician in America, born.

March 17, 1885 - William F. Cosgrove patents automatic stop plug for gas and oil pipes. 1890 - Charles B. Brooks patents street sweeper.

March 18, 1822 - The Phoenix Society, a literary and educational group, founded by Blacks in New York City.

March 19, 1971 - Rev. Leon Sullivan elected to board of directors of General Motors.

March 20, 1883 - Jan. E. Matzeliger patents shoe-making machine 1912 - Carter Woodson receives doctorate from Harvard University.

March 21, 1965 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., for voting rights.

March 22, 1898 - J.W. Smith patents lawn sprinkler.

March 23, 1873 - Slavery abolished in Puerto Rico.

March 24, 1837 - Canada gives African American citizens the right to vote.

March 25, 1843 - Explorer Jacob Dodson sets out in Search of the Northwest Passage.

March 26, 1872 - Thomas J. Martin patents fire extinguisher. 1911 - William H. Lewis becomes U.S. assistant attorney general.

March 27, 1930 - Of the 116,000 African Americans in professional positions, more than two-thirds were teachers or ministers.

March 28, 1870 - Jonathan S. Wright becomes first Black state Supreme Court justice in South Carolina.

March 29, 1898 - W.J. Ballow patents combined hat rack and table.

March 30, 1870 - Fifteenth Amendment ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to African Americans

March 31, 1988 - Toni Morrison wins Pulitzer Prize for Beloved.

Shaw competed in our www.asymmetrix.org national band competition. I'm really happy for them!

Good stuff Shaw... Oxon Hill High School from PG County, Maryland is going to.

quote:

Originally posted by Old School:
I was the assistant band director for Donshon Wilson at CSU. Atta boy Donshon.

Hey Old School I remember him when he played snare at Shaw back in "86". Matter of fact I tried to get him to come to A&M.

Job well done

quote:

Originally posted by maddogfall84:

quote:

Originally posted by Old School:
I was the assistant band director for Donshon Wilson at CSU. Atta boy Donshon.

Hey Old School I remember him when he played snare at Shaw back in "86". Matter of fact I tried to get him to come to A&M.

Job well done