\n<\/p>\n
J<\/span>oan Rosas says educators as early as kindergarten flat-out told him he wasn\u2019t capable. \u201cI got horrible grades,\u201d he said. \u201cI could barely read until eighth grade when I figured out how to teach myself.\u201d<\/p>\n The Inglewood high school sophomore says he received little meaningful support for his learning challenges and, under the circumstances, grew to dislike school. Eventually, he started acting out, trying things like smoking.<\/p>\n Everything began to change when he picked up his older brother\u2019s trombone. At first, he dabbled. Then he met Inglewood high\u2019s band director, Joseph Jauregui \u2013 AKA Mr J \u2013 who encouraged him to get involved in marching band. A few lessons in and he was sold.<\/p>\n \u201cNow as long as I have band, I don\u2019t care. I\u2019ll do whatever I have to do to stay in school and play,\u201d Rosas, 15, said.<\/p>\n <\/span>Inglewood high school\u2019s band director, Joseph Jauregui, in Inglewood, California, on 23 May 2024.<\/span> Photograph: Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/p>\n In Inglewood, a suburb in Los Angeles county with plenty of baked-in challenges \u2013 higher rates of socioeconomic adversity, community controversy over a spate of school closures and, recently, fear of Ice raids \u2013 band might seem like a frivolity. But experts say that for kids like Rosas, it can make all the difference.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s unpredictability in the school and the community, those can be risk factors in the lives of children,\u201d explains Angela <\/em>J <\/em>Narayan,<\/em> an associate professor of clinical child psychology at the University of Denver who studies adverse and beneficial childhood events. \u201cThe ideal is for school to serve as a protective factor, rather than another trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>The Inglewood high marching band and cheerleaders perform before a football game, in LA in 2008.<\/span> Photograph: Zuma Press Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n That resonates with band director Jauregui, who says music was always his protector. He grew up a pastor\u2019s kid in nearby South Gate, a suburb less than 10 miles (16km) from downtown Los Angeles. His parents divorced when he was 16. \u201cMusic was always my escape,\u201d he said. Jauregui graduated high school in 2005 and eventually earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in music performance from California State University, Los Angeles. He plays the saxophone and flute, but in his formative years he and his music-obsessed friends revered one high school: Inglewood. \u201cWe used to sneak into the Inglewood performances because they played the fun stuff,\u201d Jauregui said.<\/p>\n For decades, Inglewood\u2019s band dominated southern California high school competitions under the leadership of director Conrad Hutchinson III, whose father had been a legendary band director at Grambling State University, a historically Black university in Louisiana. Under the elder Hutchinson\u2019s leadership, Grambling became the \u201cworld-famed Tiger marching band\u201d. The younger Hutchinson arrived at Inglewood high in 1977 and created a program in that same historically Black college and university (HBCU) style \u2013 popular music, impressive choreography and high-stepping footwork \u2013 with flags, dancers and twirlers adding to the show. Inglewood high took home the top prize at the nationwide battle of the high school bands multiple times.<\/p>\n But by the time Jauregui, 38, interviewed for a job in February 2021, those glory days had faded beyond institutional memory. The district was flagging under financial difficulties that led to a state takeover in 2012. A revolving door of leadership chain-sawed programs and extracurriculars and an unprecedented number of students fled the district. Then the pandemic.<\/p>\n <\/span>The MLK parade chair, Celes King, with members of the Inglewood high marching band in 1993, in Inglewood.<\/span> Photograph: Bob Riha Jr\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The pandemic was hard on Jauregui, too. He was completing his teaching credential and substitute teaching in Los Angeles unified school district (LAUSD). Once his credential kicked in, he applied for every teaching position within 25 miles of his home with zero luck \u2013 until he got a call from Inglewood. Partway through his job interview, additional administrators joined the discussion, and soon he was offered a position. But not the one he applied for.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d applied for middle school. I wanted to have a personal life,\u201d he said . Yet the chance to step in where Hutchinson III, now an octogenarian, left off was too tempting. \u201cI walked in on the first day and I immediately saw what I was up against. I only had eight kids and they had never performed. Because of the pandemic, they\u2019d only played using method books,\u201d he said. The instruments were broken down. The uniforms were old and smelly. \u201cI immediately wanted to quit,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n <\/span>Joseph Jauregui and Conrad Hutchinson III at a fundraising gala in Inglewood in 2024.<\/span> Photograph: Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Jauregui recruited players nonstop \u2013 the band now has more than 120 students \u2013 and made a wishlist of everything the program needed to succeed. To his astonishment, administrators obliged. \u201cWe found a way to get everything, Jauregui said. Once he deems students responsible, they receive a brand-new instrument. \u201cEveryone in the school and the district has supported this program 100%,\u201d he went on.<\/p>\n There were also cultural challenges to conquer.<\/p>\n Jauregui, who is Puerto Rican and played in the University of Southern California\u2019s marching band before transferring to the more affordable Cal State LA, experienced some community pushback because he didn\u2019t attend an HBCU, he said. These days, the community criticism has vanished as the band lives up to its old-school tagline: baddest band in the land.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>Joseph Jauregui, in Inglewood in 2024.<\/span> Photograph: Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cLast year was surreal for us. We played everywhere,\u201d Jauregui said. Besides Inglewood\u2019s football games, the band played an NFL half-time, a Snoop Dogg special event, the Kingdom Day parade, a major Teach for America meeting and \u2013 the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance \u2013 the National Independence Day parade in Washington DC, which Jauregui said was bittersweet.<\/p>\n The students fundraised and were thrilled to go to DC. It was the first time many had ever been on an airplane. Yet parade spectators had the audacity to lob jabs at the band, shouting things like: \u201cGovernor Newsom actually let you out?\u201d The kids, meanwhile, didn\u2019t flinch. \u201cThey were impeccably professional. I was so proud,\u201d Jauregui said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s what the band does for individual kids like Rosas, though, that matters most to Jauregui. \u201cI tell the kids that if you work hard, this is a program that has the potential to literally change your life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/span>Students applaud after singing Happy Birthday to band directer Joseph Jauregui, in Inglewood in May 2024.<\/span> Photograph: Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/p>\n HBCUs \u2013 including Southern University and Jackson State University \u2013 have been dropping by Inglewood high, borrowing their practice facilities when they are in town and playing with the high school students. \u201cWe\u2019ve developed some very good relationships. Those band directors audition our kids and have even offered scholarships right on the spot,\u201d Jauregui said, adding that recently, he had even had a few families opt in to the school solely because of the band. Last year, every senior in the band was offered a scholarship \u2013 a major inspiration for Rosas, who is now trombone section leader and says he aims to earn a scholarship to an HBCU.<\/p>\n \u201cMy last report card was all A\u2019s and B\u2019s,\u201d said Rosas. \u201cWith band, now college seems possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joan Rosas says educators as early as kindergarten flat-out told him he wasn\u2019t capable. \u201cI got horrible grades,\u201d he said. \u201cI could barely read until eighth grade when I figured out how to teach myself.\u201d The Inglewood high school sophomore says he received little meaningful support for his learning challenges and, under the circumstances, grew<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[3422,861,5582,4558,949,3421,334,17831,1862],"class_list":{"0":"post-30358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-angeles","9":"tag-band","10":"tag-fallen","11":"tag-hard","12":"tag-high","13":"tag-los","14":"tag-school","15":"tag-storied","16":"tag-times"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}