Mr. Sullens
Parents and Students,
I hope this email finds you enjoying your summer. It will be over before you know it! As you may or may not be aware, Mr. Eric Hughes, our percussion director for the past four years at Westside and West Briar, will be moving on to Austin due to personal reasons. We immediately began our search for a replacement knowing that the new person would have big shoes to fill! I'm pleased to announce that Mr. Rob Sullens will be joining us next year. We are VERY excited to have him apart of our Westside band family. He comes to us with lots of experience and we are confident that our students will soar under his direction. Below, you will find a letter he wrote to all of you. You can also find his biography on our website. Just click on the director link to read about Mr. Sullens's background.
The start of something new, brings the hope of something great! Having said that, with Mr. Sullens's suggestion, we have decided to alter the August schedule a bit. We understand that you may have travel plans or have already planned around the current dates and times. However, we want to give our new percussion section every opportunity to begin the year with a bang! You should already be aware that percussion auditions will be held on Monday August 2nd at 3:00 pm and Fish camp (for all new members) is August 3rd-5th 8:00-12:00 pm. Here's the change: ALL percussion students will attend the week of August 2nd-6th 8:00-3:00 pm. This includes returning members. Please contact me if you have any questions or might have a conflict. As a reminder, the percussion audition material is available on the website under the percussion link.
Mr. Sullens is currently getting settled in the Houston area, is beginning the long process of paperwork and such for HISD, and is learning about "The Westside Way". Please feel free to contact him directly with any questions or to just welcome him to our community!
Kelly Porter
From Mr. Sullens:
Hello Everyone!
My name is Mr. Sullens and I will be the new Assistant Band Director for West Briar Middle School and Westside High School; my area of specialty being percussion studies.
I am a new resident to the Houston area after just spending the last 5 years of my career in the Portland, Oregon area. During my time in the Northwest I was fortunate to be the President of the Northwest Association for Performing Arts and an Assistant Band Director/Percussion Coordinator for several different programs.
Prior to my living in the Northwest I have be very fortunate to work a number of successful programs throughout the country. Most notably I was the Percussion Coordinator for the University of South Carolina where I received my Bachelor of Music Education and was also the Percussion Director for Tarpon Springs High School in Florida.
My goal being a part of these music programs is to build upon the strong foundation that has already been put in place and to elevate the students to their highest potential possible. I will work very diligently at molding the students into the best possible percussionists but more importantly the best possible people they can be.
The first adjustment that has been discussed by the band directors is to extend the initial percussion auditions. We would like to make sure that students have a fair assessment of their skills and are placed on the correct instrument for the fall marching band season. To do this we request that ALL percussionists attend “Percussion Camp” for the following dates and times:
Monday August 2nd - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday August 3rd - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday August 4th - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Thursday August 5th - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Friday August 6th - 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (this time is already on your schedule)
We strongly encourage students to attend as much of the camp as possible but understand that some summer conflicts could arise.
I am very excited to be apart of the instrumental music family here at West Briar and Westside and am very much looking forward to getting to meet everyone. Please take the time to introduce yourself when you get a chance.
Sincerely,
Mr. Sullens
