By David Wilfong
NDG Contributing Writer
Football season is winding down; and in the ranks of college programs that means a very few select teams are looking for the chance to play in a bowl game. These prestigious events take place at venues throughout the country, with audiences far beyond the students and alumni of the particular colleges represented on the field.
One of these is the Auto Zone Liberty Bowl, slated for Dec. 27 in Memphis, Tennessee. As with many bowl games, select high schools are often invited to share in the festivities; offering a wide variety of entertainment to the throngs of fans who gather for the event. The invitations go far and wide, with bands from schools in foreign countries sometimes making the trek to join in the fun.
But an invitation is hard to come by.
There is one school here in the metroplex that garnered such an invitation, and it is a somewhat unexpected choice. Universal Academy (UA), a public charter school located in Irving with just under 700 students in grades Pre-K through 12, accomplished just that.
The Director of Fine Arts at UA, Dion Hood, has been at the school for 18 years, and has seen the quality of its musicians and program improve over time. This year he sent off a recording of his school’s marching band to the bowl game performance committee. It was an optimistic move, and the first time such a submission had been made.
Shortly thereafter he received word back that his school had been chosen.
“We have now this opportunity to represent the state of Texas, this big state with wonderful bands across this metroplex,” Hood said. “We are a 1A school. And we are going to be able to perform not only at the ESPN AutoZone Liberty Bowl halftime performance, but we’re also one of the features at the Liberty Bowl Parade. So this is an amazing feat for our school and our program.
“And I, as director, I’m so proud of what this experience is going to allow our students to dream and to inspire, and to see that they are capable and able to do anything that they really want to do, if they so desire, and stay focused on the right path to do that.”
While the invitation is secured for the Marching Eagles to take the field at the Liberty Bowl, it is an expensive endeavor. UA is reaching out to the community for support in sending its students to Memphis. The school is hoping to raise $25,000 to help pave the way for 54 students to make the trip.
UA students have traveled far and wide before, with a past contingent flying to London and Scotland to perform in the Edinburgh Festival as well as trips to California. But unlike public schools with a geographic-based business community behind them, students at UA must make a case to the community at large for help.
Fine arts and music (as well as chess and interesting sports like cricket) is weaved throughout its curriculum starting at the elementary level, but this particular opportunity is seen as an important step in broadening horizons for the students and the school itself.
“This means that we are doing some wonderful things,” said UA Principal Sheraton Duffey. “It means that what we said we were going to do – which is to provide our students with multiple opportunities to reach their maximum potential – we’re doing that.
“This experience with the Liberty Bowl is providing our students with a once in a lifetime opportunity to go out onto a large platform, like the Liberty Bowl, and perform in front of a large audience. (It) says to our students, it doesn’t matter that we’re Title 1 campus here, which means we have some students who are of low socioeconomic status.
“It says it doesn’t matter your background. Wherever you come from, you can do any and all things if you are a Universal Academy Eagle champion, because we are going to party together to make certain that we provide those opportunities for our students. So as a principal, I am elated for my Fine Arts Director to say to me ‘Dr. Duffey we’re ready’.”
More information on Universal Academy, its various programs and how to donate to the “March to Memphis” can be found at the school website: universalacademy.com.
