This past Saturday, February 27th, from 11am-5pm, Madison High School hosted their very first Mattress Sale. It is unlike any other fundraiser the music department has ever done, and it was received very well by the public.

There have been many benefits to the MHS music program through this sale. “Well, obviously the first one is that we’re hoping to raise some money to help students offset the cost of our Florida trip this year,” says Mr. Batsch, who had the initial idea to host this sale. “But beyond that, I think the mattress sale has already created a little bit of a sense of community amongst the music kids. We’ve created commercials, we’ve gone out and hung up signs, we hung up posters, and I feel like the students really grabbed onto this sale as a little community building exercise.”

Mr. Batsch thinks that it is important to fundraise for many reasons. “There are students in our band that come from all walks of life. Some people have families that the trips are a challenge for them to pay for. We offer this opportunity so that those students can attend as well as those students who have no problems paying for these trips. A secondary benefit from it is that it also teaches students what real life is about. The harder you work, the more money you can make,” he says.

The mattress sale made between seventy eight and eighty thousand dollars by the end of the day. There were over 50 mattresses sold, and the entire day was busy with potential buyers. Mr. Batsch plans to do the sale again in the future, because the sale did raise a lot of money for this year’s music trip to Disney World. The trip is in late May and the whole department is very excited.

“The number one benefit for the band to traveling to Disney World is that we are all taking part in a NAFME-approved workshop with a professional Disney conductor on a Disney soundstage. That two-and-a-half hour long workshop is one of the best workshops I’ve ever attended as a director in my career and that’s the whole reason why I want the band to go down there is to experience the great workshop,” says Mr. Batch. “A secondary reason is we get to perform in front of the world in one of the coolest places that the United States has to offer.”

Thank you to all who came out last Saturday to support the music department’s Mattress Sale fundraiser!