Katy Wilson-Fields’ favorite part about being a band director is traveling with her students.
Whether it be for an away sports game, competition, learning opportunity or concert, the West Hall High School band has been as south as Florida and as north as New York.
But when one of the band’s two trailers used to lug instruments and equipment to and from performances was stolen, Wilson-Fields thought she wouldn’t be able to provide as many travel opportunities for her students to see the world beyond Hall County.
The theft spurred a mixture of sadness, anger and desperation. She said she last saw the empty trailer, which was parked on school property next to another band trailer, on July 7 at around 6 p.m. When she returned to campus the following Monday, it was nowhere to be found.
“My first reaction was complete confusion, like, who would steal from kids? I was very frustrated,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via phone Friday.
She frantically began calling school staff members to try to figure out if someone had borrowed it and just forgot to let her know. But no one had seen it. So she filed a report with the sheriff’s office Tuesday.
The case was assigned to property crimes for investigation, but sheriff’s office spokesman B.J. Williams said that the silver 2022 Yukon trailer “has no markings, so it will be somewhat difficult to spot.” The investigation remains active, despite there being very little officials can do to recover the trailer.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
News of the theft was a punch to the gut. Wilson-Fields said students had already been trying to raise $15,000 for new drum line equipment, and she thought the budget would need to shift in order to instead first buy a new trailer.
She began to worry that she wouldn’t be able to provide for her students like she hoped.
But a post she shared on Facebook about the theft began to gain traction and four community members, who did not have a direct connection to the school, stepped up and wrote checks to the band program Thursday. The donations, which equaled more than $6,000, were enough to buy a new trailer and cover the costs of making it identifiable and less likely to be stolen again.
“We were actually able to get a slightly bigger trailer than the one we initially had, so it really turned into a blessing in disguise,” Wilson-Fields added.
Both band trailers will also now be equipped with GPS trackers and the locks will be upgraded.
The stolen trailer, which was funded by students’ parents and other community members, had only been used since September 2022, when the band outgrew its one trailer after the pandemic. Wilson-Fields said more students have been joining the program in recent years and the addition of marching arts, which is music combined with several fine arts including visual effects and color guard, has increased their numbers, thus also the amount of instruments and other equipment needed.
Though the theft was frustrating for Wilson-Fields, she said she made sure to turn it into a lesson for her students.
“If you ever question that people care about you and see you, this should reinforce that. Our community values you. Our community understands how hard you work. And our community sees the value of music education,” she remembered telling her students after the donations poured in.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Anyone who spots the stolen trailer is asked to contact the sheriff’s office dispatch number at 770-536-8812.
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