UMass Amherst Alumni Association

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Alumni Association Presents Gift to Marching Band

Left to right: Chancellor Robert Holub, Minuteman Marching Band Director George Parks, Sam the Minuteman, and Alumni Association vice presidents Anna Symington '79, '83G and Mary Custard '82, '87G.

The UMass Amherst Alumni Association took center field at the 24th Annual Band Day performances at McGuirk Stadium on October 25. Before another record breaking crowd of UMass football and Marching Band fans, the Alumni Association made a pledge of $30,000 towards the construction of a new building for the Minuteman Marching Band.

Fundraising for the Band building has been ongoing for the past several years, but was recently boosted by a $4.5 million pledge from the UMass Amherst campus. Another $1.5 million in private support was needed to avoid having the project scaled back. The proposed 28,000 sq. ft. building is to be constructed west of the Mullins Center, adjacent to the band's outdoor practice fields.

"The Marching Band is not only an iconic symbol of UMass Amherst," said Deb Masloski, Associate Executive Director of the Alumni Association, "but its 300 plus members come from every school and college, and every corner of the campus. To support the Marching Band is to support UMass Amherst."

For more information on the Minuteman Marching Band Building campaign or to make a contribution, visit: ummbalumni.org/building/index.html.