Newsletter

Winter 2015

Learn how youre

making a difference

Heres our annual Ryan A.

Hayn Memorial Fund newsletter to keep you up-to-date on all
thats happening with the Fund.
We continue to raise money
to support Ryans high school
marching band, the George
Walton Academy (GWA)
Marching Bulldog Band, in
Monroe, Ga. Ryan loved to be a
part of the band during high
school, and he returned during
and after college to lead band
activities. Read on to learn
about all the incredible things
that are going on as a result of
your contributions!

Generous contributions have

helped the GWA Band earn
honors across the country.

Members of GWA Marching Band and supporters at the Fun Run in July. For the
article and more photos of the event, see Page 3.

Generosity keeps band marching along

By Nigel Conton
Board President

The Board and I want to thank

you for your contributions to Ryans
Fund! So far, in total since the fund
began four years ago, you have
contributed just over $50,500! This
incredible amount also includes
donations collected from six fundraising events we have held over the years.
Your funds have purchased
approximately 20 instruments and
supporting equipment such as speakers and a screen. All of your contributions go directly toward helping
youth. There are no administrative
costs. All copying, mailing costs, legal
costs to set up the Fund, expenses
associated with staging the fun run,
etc. are provided as in-kind services by
Ryans family and friends.
The GWA band meant a lot to

Ryan. He enjoyed the musical skills he

learned from Band Director Christian
Smith and he enjoyed the fellowship
of other band members. He volunteered to help lead band camp, which
helped him develop leadership skills.
With these things in mind, we
hope to help other youth develop
lifelong skills that will help them grow
and develop into happy, successful and
productive adults.
With the proceeds from the fund,
we are seeing just that. You are helping
to make that happen.
Should you be moved to help
more youth in their musical education, development and formation,
please make checks payable to the
Ryan A. Hayn Memorial Fund, P.O.
Box 1313, Snellville, GA 30078 and
return the enclosed envelope. Thank
you again for your generosity!

Bands push to National Championship creates lifelong memories

By Justin Cohen

GWA Band President

When I took my position as

President of the band, I had no idea
what a story we would create, and an
ending we would achieve.
For the past few months I have
worked hard to share my experiences
in the program, and push an incredible group of kids to a higher level.

Each member transformed on the

field, and worked hard to perfect an
11-minute journey of a young boxer
to his victory. You could see the
passion and energy in every note. The
band made the push to the National
Championship and gave the performance of their lives.
Every single person involved with
the making of 'The Contender' will

remember the long hard days of work,

as well as the electrifying performances
for the rest of their lives. I couldn't be
prouder to have worked alongside the
members, staff, and parents in this
organization one last time.
Thank you, George Walton
Academy, for an amazing last season,
and six years of my life that I will
cherish forever.

Hard work pays off in competitions

My name is Murphy Pulliam. I am
seventeen years old, the Head Mellophone Section Leader, and the Band
Sergeant. When I reflect on the
closing season of my involvement in
the GWA marching band, I can't help
but think of every moment that
helped mold the show into the
finished product. At band camp, all
started out well, but I honestly didn't
know if I was going to make it. It was
becoming tough
being on the
top leadership
of the band. I
thought, "If it's
tough now, how
am I ever going
to survive
through the
season?"
Throughout the
week, the top
four grew
stronger individually, mentally, and as a
Murphy Pulliam
leadership team.
We productively finished each day
exhausted, but knowing that we gave
it our all. Little did we know that this
hard working, determined group
would take us to an entire new level.
As school started, the band as a
whole had a rough start, including
myself. I found myself longing to just
go home instead of wanting to go to
band practice. I basically stared at my
watch the whole time. Of course, I
helped out my section to the best of
my ability, but on the inside I desperately wanted to go home. I went home
every other practice and just broke
down out of stress and exhaustion. I
couldn't wait for the season to be over,
or so I thought. October, or, better
known as the competition month,
finally came.
Our first competition went well,
but our second one, Jacksonville State,

2014 Competition Awards

Partial List
Contest of Champions
Jacksonville, AL
Superior Band
Superior Color Guard
Superior Percussion
1st place Color Guard Diamond Class
2nd Place Percussion Diamond Class
1st Place Overall Band Diamond Class
Overall High General Effect
John T. Finley High Music Award
Overall Grand Champions for Entire
Competition
US Bands Southern States
Chattanooga, TN
Group VI Open 1st place
Group VI Open Best Percussion
Group VI Open Best Music
Group VI Open Best Overall Effect
Overall 2014 Southern States Champions
US Bands National Championship
East Rutherford, NJ
Group VI Open 3rd Place
Group VI Open 1st place in Music

was the one where the band really

understood why we went through all
that we did. I, too, had that feeling of
excitement come as I saw the crowd
rise to its feet at the close of our show.
I finally felt what had been missing for
so long: passion. We won, but honestly that was icing on the cake.
Knowing in our hearts that we entertained the crowd to the fullest of our
ability was enough. When we competed at the next two competitions I
didn't get that "rush". In fact, I got
the opposite, especially at the fourth:
Southern States. After I came off the
field I just broke down and sobbed. I
knew this isn't what I was supposed to
feel like. I used this disappointment to
drive me over the next two weeks as
we prepared for the biggest show:
USbands National Championship at
Metlife Stadium in New Jersey. This
was an exceptionally exciting trip
because the students, particularly the
section leaders and top 4, secretly
raised money in order to compete.

Luckily, our directors let us go and we

couldn't be more content. We pushed
those two weeks as hard as we could.
We even hosted a few student-run
rehearsals in order to fulfill the show's
potential. When we arrived in New
Jersey, we got to rehearsal right away.
It was freezing, and everyone had at
least three layers on, but we didn't let
that stop our pushing to the end.
Rehearsal on Saturday, competition
day, was quite similar. Once rehearsal
ended we headed to the competition.
After watching some of our
competitors we went to warm up and
then the tunnel. For me, standing in
the tunnel for the last time was quite
emotional. I did my best not to cry
because I knew it might mess me up
in the show. Luckily, I was able to
hold it back until after the show. I
remember stepping onto the field and
looking up at the stadium. I wasn't
cold anymore, and I doubt anyone else
was. The sensation I got from seeing
the crowd and knowing what was
about to happen overwhelmed me. All
of the sudden I felt myself take the
first step off to the show. After the
opener ended, I thought to myself,
"That was the last time you'll ever
march the opener. Give the rest all
you've got." Listening to my
conscience I did just that. As I
marched off the field I knew that
performance was the best it could have
been for me as well as the band. Tears
were flowing from everyone; some
were happy tears, some were sad tears.
Regardless, everyone knew that we just
gave a performance of a lifetime.
Being in this program truly has
benefitted me in so many ways. I've
learned leadership skills, musical skills,
and life skills. Never will I forget the
friends that I've made and the lessons
I've learned from being in this
program, and I thank God each and
every day for it.

Fun Run
flies high
in 2014
n July 26 in Monroe, Ga.
more than 100 people gathered to complete a fun run in
honor of the Ryan A. Hayn Memorial
Fund.
Dressed up as their favorite superheros, band students, parents, Ryans
friends and supporters all came out to
complete a 5K and to raise money for
the fund.
After the run, awards were given
out for notable costumes, including
most creative and best sidekick, with
the best overall costume awarded to
Jackie Harlan for her Captain America
costume.
New fund President Nigel Conton
addressed the crowd and talked about
Ryans commitment to and love of the
GWA marching band and how he
returned year after year to camp to
help students develop leadership skills.
The Ryan Fund has been able to
supplement the band by buying
instruments, equipment and music,
Conton said. We want to honor
Ryans memory by supporting the
band that was so much a part of his
life.

Left, Chad Richards, saxophone

and percussion
player in the
marching band,
flies through the
run. Below, trombone player Bailey
Croker's little
sister Addie Grace
watches the
excitement.

Above, left, GWA Guard member Aubrey Mathewson's parents Scott and Sheila
keep runners hydrated. Above right, Ninja Turtle Cheryl Hayn and Spiderman
Nigel Conton look on while current band mom Lynn Miles presents Stagg
Greene's daughter a costume award.

Runners, donned in their superhero finest, charge across the starting line. Right,
Shelle McDonald, friend and co-worker of Ryan's from Panama City, Fla., poses
with the run t-shirt designed by Allison Hayn.

A Memory of Ryan
By Mike Levy
Board Member

Winter is here, and along with it

comes thoughts of warm fires on a
cold night, family, the holidays, and if
you're like me, face planting in a pile
of snow.
See, I like to snowboard and rarely
does a snowboard trip come and go
without at least one face plant. And I
have Ryan to thank for that.
Most of you probably know that I
met Ryan for the first time our freshman year at GWA in Geometry. It
wasn't until after that that I figured
out Ryan was in band, too. So we were
hanging once and I think I let slip that
I had always wanted to go snowboarding.
At that point I had never tried it
before. So here comes Ryan one
random day, Hey, me and Allison are
going up to North Carolina to
ski/snowboard for a day, wanna come
with us? Why yes, yes I do!
So we piled into Allison's car (the
tan four door sedan one, can't remember what it was exactly) and off we
went. We went up to Cataloochee Ski
Resort in Maggie Valley and along the
way I was bombarding Ryan with
snowboarding questions. Obviously
Ryan didn't know anything about
snowboarding as he was a skier. I can't
remember if Allison had ever snowboarded before at that point so she

may or may not have been any help.

But one thing Ryan did say in
response to my comment about
starting on the bunny hill was something to the effect of that was a bad
idea, just jump in the deep end and go
for it. Little did I know this was going
to be a mantra of his the entire day.
So we got to the lodge, got our
gear, and by then Ryan had successfully talked me into skipping the
bunny hill and just starting with a
green circle/easy beginner. It was
bad...really bad...and Ryan let me
know it as he pretty much followed
me down the run laughing the entire
time.
We only did the green once
because it was really too slow to learn
anything so I was started to see a little
bit of the wisdom in Ryan's advice to
start with a harder/higher level trail.
So off we went to a blue
square/intermediate trail.
It was little better, but there were a
lot of face plants, rolling, falling,
crashing, and sliding (not of the board
sliding) along with more comments,
jabs, etc. from Ryan. But it was better.
When we got to the bottom, I'm
thinking let's do that again, but Ryan
is thinking let's go to a black
diamond/advanced trail! Aaaand, he
talked me into it! So off we went to
the top of the mountain and the
nearest black diamond.

Now keep in mind, it's my first

time snowboarding and my third trail,
so I was a little nervous. Ryan wasn't!
After a quick pep talk, he decided to
let me go first as a courtesy. I think he
just wanted to watch. Well as you can
imagine it was bad, like really bad. I
think I slid down face first on my
stomach the vast majority of the trail.
Ryan of course didn't have any
trouble, though!
The rest of the day was pretty
much the same, although I put my
foot down on doing any more black
diamonds. It was also on this trip that
Ryan and I discovered our love of
watching/joking about the
skiers/snowboarders on the runs below
as we're on the ski lift.
Also thanks to Ryan pushing me
to keep trying, I got a massive bruise
on my right hip, which made the ride
home that much more interesting.
And that was pretty much the trip
and the start of our yearly
ski/snowboarding trips. Eventually
Nigel started going with us and joined
in the tradition, which we did every
year through high school, in college
and beyond.
But the really cool thing is that I
may not have ever gone snowboarding
if Ryan hadn't out of the blue invited
me to go with him and Allison. So to
this day, I have him to thank for my
love of snowboarding.

Donations make the difference in competition

My name is Tristan Gibbs and I

am the Vice-President of the George
Walton Academy Marching Bulldog
Band.
As the season progressed, I was
constantly surprised. After our first
show a Habersham Central, the other
Top 4 and I had a meeting for raising
money for a trip to the USBANDS

National Championship in East

Rutherford, New Jersey. Together we
raised $11,000. Thanks to the generous parents of the program, we
quickly raised enough money to go.
Although we were grand champions at
four of our five shows, the victories
had nothing to do with the amount of
hard work and passion that was put on

the field throughout the season. The

happiest I have been was hearing that
crowd roar at MetLife Stadium. We
may not have taken first place, but we
tore the stadium to the ground and
left with the crowd in our pockets and
thats all that matters. To close, I
would like to thank the Ryan Hayn
Fund from the bottom of my heart.