SEMO to host regional marching arts camp June 5–7 with leadership focus

Southeast Missouri State University will host a three-day marching arts camp June 5–7 aimed at high school students across the region, SEMO director of bands Jim Daughters said on Cape Chronicle.

The camp, held on the university's River Campus, emphasizes leadership training for drum majors, color guard and marching percussion, Daughters said. "It's a 3 day immersive camp that really focuses on leadership for students, just building those leadership qualities," he said, adding that university staff will run the color guard instruction and that the drum-line camp will be led by new percussion professor Dr. Joe Turner from North Carolina.

Daughters framed the program as both recruitment and practical training. He said the camp provides an affordable local option compared with national camps: "If they go to the national camp, it's over $1,000 for those student[s] for 1 week. . . . So we offer this camp for those parents out there who might be seeing this. It is under $300." The program offers overnight housing in the Dobbins dorm on River Campus and a commuter option; daily hours run broadly from about 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with morning and afternoon instructional blocks, meals provided and evening activities such as a skit night designed to develop communication and teamwork.

To register, Daughters directed listeners to search for "SEMO summer camps," where the summer marching arts camp registration link and a camp packing list are posted. He said registration closes one week before the start of camp. The transcript does not specify a firm cap on participants.

Daughters said this is the camp's fifth year at the university and that many attendees later enroll there. For more information and to register, parents and students should consult the SEMO summer camps page and the university's music department listings.