Summer Band Camp Returns to FAMU

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TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- It’s barely 9 in the morning and it’s already sweltering on FAMU’s practice field.

“Percussion! Percussion!” Shelby Chipman shouts over the drumline, “Find some shade! You can do that, but find some shade over there. Get ‘em out of the sun.”

Chipman is an associate professor of music at the school and he’s the band camp’s coordinator. This is the first camp since 2011, when the program became embroiled in a hazing scandal after one of its drum majors was killed. The summer camp’s return is another step in FAMU’s effort to get back to normal, and Camille Howard says the school has turned the page.

“I definitely believe they have,” Howard says, “Like I said, they’re very disciplined and they have a no tolerance policy.”

Howard is down from Detroit, Michigan. She has two kids participating in the camp.



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