So, if you didn't know, I'm from a small town outside of Cincinnati called Mason. Mason is known for its great schooling, Kings Island and many other things. Recently, it has been getting press for something different all together: a sexual assault.

At the beginning of the summer, one of my sister's friends, whom is still in the marching band, announced to my family that Robert Bass had retired. I honestly was very shocked, at first. I thought that he would be with the band for a very long time, not 2 years since I have graduated. Something seemed very suspicious of him for suddenly retiring at such a young age. I just passed it off that he was kind of just tired of all of the stress from planning and preparing an immaculate marching band show. (Not even thinking that he left during a band camp, an important and vital part of putting the show together.)

Now, you can give me all of the flack you want to but I feel now is the best time than ever to share my story/experience with the William Mason High School Marching Band. Don't get me wrong, I had an amazing time and met some great people but there were definitely some kinks in the system. My story is definitely different than most other members so please don't tell me that experience represents all of marching band, I know it doesn't.

Marching band was something that I always wanted to do, it was introduced to me in middle school but I always thought they were cool in the movies. At Mason, all of the band directors from the whole district worked together to bring these shows to life. Some of the greatest band leaders were even brought/hired in to teach us basic marching all the way to how to get across the field in 8-10 counts.

I didn't join the marching band until I was in my sophomore year in high school, which was considered a bad thing to the Mason Band and put you lower on the totem pole. But I tried my hardest to gain the respect of the band directors and ended up being a "shadow" or "reserve". (That's where you are a back up for a competing a spot or "dot", as we like to call it.) And I was okay with it the first year but getting that the second year, I was definitely not okay with it.

The thing that irked me the most was not getting the dot. As I said, I wanted it so badly. I constantly asked Mr. Bass when I would march next. I would always get the reply, "We'll see about next week."

I wouldn't necessarily say that I was entitled to a spot but when you're assigned to a freshman (and you're a junior) and they get the dot, it's not okay. I was pretty angry about and, after my second year in the band, I didn't rejoin.

I didn't really like him much and I always felt like the only way to get a dot was to sucker up to him. As much as I wanted to get the dot, I knew I had to earn it, not buy my way into it. The only people that seemed to get a dot were the ones that stood out to him and were his favorites.

For those of you who don't know what had happened, I'll give you a short synopsis. Robert Bass used to work at Fairborn City Schools, near Dayton, Ohio. During his time there, he had relations with a student, who was 17 years old at the time. This relationship had lasted from January 1st 1996 until June 1st 1996. The woman involved in the affair has finally come out with her side of the story.

If you want to read more about this go here.

When I had learned more recently of his past at a previous school he had taught at, I wasn't really surprised. I thought it was all of the karma finally catching up to him. I'm not angry about it anymore, just very disappointed that my hard work went to waste. I wanted to clarify that in case you think that I still harbor those kind of emotions towards him. I don't. Just finally wanted to show what it was really like to be an underdog in the band.

As a future teacher, it's just disappointing to hear news like this. I wish there weren't teacher-student relationships like this but I guess we'll see what happens.