Band Camp Events

by Rachael Cohen, ​ΓA

Take a moment to imagine the following scenario: It is a bright and sunny Sunday
afternoon, on the tail end of a record-breaking Southern California heat wave.
Band camp starts tomorrow and everyone is getting hyped. You and your wonderful EK counterpart make the long and treacherous (20-minute) journey to Costco. You walk up to the food court counter and say to the cashier,

“Hi, I’m here to pick up an order for Rachael? I called this morning.”

“Oh yeah we have that right here, just go around to the door on the side and we’ll bring it out,” replies the cashier.

​You and Kathy walk over to the side door. The door opens, and out rolls
the most incredible sight you’ve ever seen: a flatbed cart of 46 ginormous Costco pizzas. Arranged into 6 uneven stacks, the scent of cheese and pepperoni radiates from the cart.Passersby look at your order in awe. You now have to load all of these pizzas into a relatively small car. This is just another day in the life of the Kappa Kappa Psi Director of Band Activities.

​As this year’s DOBA, I had a great time organizing the Solid Gold Sound’s annual band camp social events.
My counterpart Kathy and I were definitely stressed out the entire time, but it was all very fun and one of the
more rewarding experiences I’ve had at UCLA. Everything started slow and simple with the drum and guard
breakfast Sunday morning; everyone seemed to enjoy their orange juice and Costco muffins. Things quickly
ramped up in the evening as we delivered our 46 pizzas to Schoenberg. Despite our anxieties, Kathy and I
were able to serve the pizza on time, along with vegan and gluten-free options we baked in my apartment.
It was great seeing brothers and non-brothers alike after being away all summer, and to bring smiles to their
faces with free dinner. The Diddy Riese Run and Ice Cream Social (two distinctly separate ice cream-based
events) were full of laughter, conversation, new friends, and of course, excessive amounts of ice cream. While
we did have to fend off a few non-band members around Covel Commons, overall everything went as well
as we’d hoped. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to give back to the band I love so much and allow
old and new members alike to start the season with happy memories. But the most memorable part of my
tenure as DOBA will always be ordering a flatbed cart of 46 gigantic Costco pizzas.

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