By Randy Gonzales
University Relations and Marketing
It began as a training ground at Fort Hays State University for young western Kansas band students back in the 1940s, and it’s still going strong as one of the state’s music education leaders.
The High Plains Music Camp now also offers a week of summer instruction for middle school and high school orchestra and vocal students. It serves as a recruiting tool for the university as well.
Dr. Ivalah Allen, associate professor of music at FHSU and the camp’s director, estimated as many as half of the students in attendance enroll at FHSU in a variety of majors.
Luis Valencia, a Fort Hays State sophomore-to-be from Leoti, is majoring in music education and vocal performance. He attended two High Plains camps while in high school and served as a counselor this year. Attending the camps factored into his decision to choose FHSU.
“I’m really happy I chose Fort Hays State,” he said. “I feel like all the faculty are basically family to me, and they are mentors to me. It just feels right being here.”
A lot of other students feel the same way. Each summer, several students complete seven years at the camp.
This year, about 220 participants learned from 21 counselors, many of them former students at the camp. For those in orchestra and band, students range from sixth grade to current high school graduates. Vocal students can begin attending the camp the summer before entering high school.
Even as the 72nd annual event was winding down in mid-July, Allen was busy preparing for next year’s event as well as the big 75th annual camp down the road. She wants to welcome back former students and camp instructors for the event’s diamond anniversary.
The camp was founded in 1947 by former Fort Hays State band director Harold G. Palmer because there was no outlet for youth musicians to learn during the summer. At first it was solely a band camp, and orchestra and vocal students were added over the years.
Students from all across Kansas and neighboring states converge on the FHSU campus for instruction and to give performances in all three areas of concentration. Several of the instrumental and vocal instructors brought in each year are FHSU graduates. Allen said she knows of no other camp like it.
“It’s not just how they individually grow,” Allen said. “They take this back to their schools with the knowledge that they have gained. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
A limited number of scholarships are available, focused on both ability and need. Allen said she just hopes to break even financially each year.
“This is strictly for us to train young musicians,” she said, “not for us to make money as a department.”
