The Irving Honor Band Program was recently awarded National Wind Band Honors, which recognizes the best band programs in the nation.

Rick Flores is an exceptional band director, but to really understand what that means, you have to go back to his days at Burbank High School in San Antonio.
 
 
 
“I was an inner-city kid who lived in a housing project surrounded by drugs and crime,” Flores said.

But he was determined to beat the odds and not become another statistic. He wanted to go to college and become a police officer, but he had no money. So Flores, who played trumpet in the Burbank High School band, decided to send out cassette audition tapes to a few schools to pave the way. One ended up in the hands of Lee Boyd Montgomery Jr., then Texas Lutheran’s director of bands.

When Montgomery came to the projects, hoping to recruit the young trumpet player, Flores said he was shocked that someone would actually take time to visit him concerning his future.

“Lee Boyd came to see me two or three times and got to know me. I didn’t think I was smart enough because, even though I was ranked 16th in my graduating class, I only had a 520 on my SAT – that was a total on both parts! I’m sure he had to talk to a lot of people to get me admitted, but I got in. He believed in me and that made a world of difference!”

The next obstacle was tuition.

“I was so intimidated by the money – but somehow Carol Hamilton (then financial aid director), who quickly became my angel, figured out a way to make it work.”

At Texas Lutheran, Flores found more than a good band program. He found meaning for his life.

Flores didn’t grow up in a religious home, but he would go to chapel every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and it touched him deeply. “If it wasn’t for chapel and God’s grace, no telling where I would be,” he said.

He related how different his fellow students’ lives were. He would visit his college friend’s home for the weekend and was amazed that they would support one another and sit down to pray and have dinner together. This had never happened in his home. “God placed me at TLU to show me a different way of life,” he said.

Flores worked hard at TLU, including his student teaching days. “It wasn’t until the Seguin High School band director told me, ‘One of these days, Rick, you’re going to be a really fine band director,’ that I actually considered teaching.”

In 1995 Flores graduated cum laude from TLU with a 3.6 GPA and degrees in both music and sociology.

After graduation, Flores returned to San Antonio to teach at Truman Middle School in the Edgewood School District, and seven years ago came to Washington Irving Middle School in the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), just blocks from where he grew up.

There were 149 students in the band program when he began. All of the crime, gangs and drugs that had been part of his neighborhood were still there. And at Irving, band was simply another elective.

Flores credits a Bible study that he started for turning the program around. Although they have since had to stop, it was the foundation for a band program that is as much about character and values as it is about clarinets and trombones.

Today there are 297 students in the IMS band. Throughout the band hall are posters encouraging excellence, effort and teamwork. “We promote integrity, character and commitment,” Flores said. He uses everything from problem solving and a buddy system to pasting stars on a large poster to foster leadership, loyalty and values.

The Irving band sets the standard for the SAISD. Recently the honor band placed fourth in the Texas Music Educators Association 2C State Honor Band Finals and also was awarded the National Wind Band Honors that recognizes the best band programs in the nation. This is the first time a SAISD band program has been recognized at the state and national level.

Flores continually challenges students to dream big and not allow their environment to dictate their level of success.

“My kids know my story, and so I really feel connected with them. My desire is to show them that there is a different way of life, much like TLU showed me. They must understand that the key to their success in life is their education.”

Each year Flores takes some of his students to the TLU Summer Music Academy. “It is a very meaningful experience for them,” he said. “They can see things beyond where they now live to where their lives may take them.”

He reiterated his gratitude to TLU and how the experience changed his life so that now he can help others change theirs.

“TLU will always have a special place in my heart because it provided me the opportunity to do what I love. Many of the same obstacles and challenges I grew up with in the barrio are very much alive today. Crime, drive-by shootings, drugs, and prostitution are all within steps of our school.”

Flores smiled, “Someone once said, ‘When you understand your purpose in life it all begins to make sense.’ It is amazing that God has brought me back to this community – this is where I belong.”
 
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