Ice Cream (Team-Building) Social

At Dulles HS we strive to create a family atmosphere with the common bond of music. Our very first social of the year is the only mandatory social require. Every orchestra student is required to attend and wear their DHS Orchestra shirt throughout the school day. The social takes place in the cafeteria and is a mixture of games and teambuilding activities designed to mix the six different orchestra classes and the four high school grade levels. This event is run by our student leaders who meet together before the event to plan the games. An outline of the social is as follows:

• all students are assigned a group color mixing up orchestra class and grades
• the groups play interactive games within their group and combining groups for approximately an hour and 15 minutes.
• a guest speaker joins and talks with the orchestra about goal setting, core beliefs, or leadership
• the officers and directors serve ice cream to the students and they have social time for camaraderie and pictures

All of the orchestra students, but the focus is placed on the 9th grade students to get them to join our program. We want them to view orchestra as more than a music class, but as a family and a place where they can belong, no matter which orchestra class they are in.

This is a budget friendly venture. Other than office supplies like markers and labels, the only expenditure is the ice cream and sundae toppings. We use the “activity” budget which is a campus budget, not the district supplied orchestra budget for instruction and repair. The campus budget is funded by our orchestra dues which cost $30.00 for each student and includes their t-shirt and helps supplement our fundraiser and is used for our socials and banquet.

This is an event the students look forward to every year. The student officers look forward to running the event and the current seniors are excited to finally be the first ones in line for ice cream. Over the years, the amount of conflicts have become fewer and we showcase what we are doing with the parents and at concerts and they realize the value to have the students involved more than just for a music class.

Our choir department came to our event this year with their officers and took notes on games, etc. They copied the event with their department to great success utilizing about 20 minutes for a student led sectional. Our choir teachers response was that she saw interaction between students she hasn’t seen before.

Initially start with more of the game/team building concept first. After a year then begin to add some goal setting activities.