Welcome to the BBMS Orchestra Website!
Explanation of the different orchestras
HIstory of the BBMS Orchestra Program
Barbara Bush Middle School opened in 1998 as the first secondary school in the Valley Ranch/Las Colinas area. All middle school students who lived west of I-35 attended the new school, which fed R.L. Turner High School. The first orchestra director at Bush was Ms. Jenni Ritter, who taught there for four years. She started the program from a group of 12 housed at Las Colinas Elementary and grew it to a program of over 100 in a short time. In those years, the BBMS Orchestra met much success, and was the first performing group at Bush to receive a Sweepstakes award at UIL.
In 2002, there were two big changes: a new director and a new high school. Ms. Kristin Woodward (later Geist) came to Bush from Oklahoma. Because of the new high school, Mrs. Geist had only 6th and 7th graders that first year, and the school was very small. Mr. Gary Keller was the new orchestra director at Ranchview High School and provided much assistance to the middle school program.
After those first years, due to the hard work of the students and directors, the orchestra program grew by leaps and bounds, and it began to see big successes in festivals and contests. Orchestra was making a name for itself on the "west side."
At the end of the 2005-06 school year, Mrs. Geist and her husband made the difficult decision to move back to Oklahoma City to be close to their families. Because of the awesome job she had done, the orchestra program was so big that it needed 2 directors! Mr. Smith was hired in March, and Mr. Ballard came on board soon after.
Mr. Smith and Mr. Ballard had a great first year, and are eagerly awaiting the 2007-08 school year!
Orchestra Direct Line (972)968-3798
Mr. Smith smithla@cfbisd.edu
Mr. Ballard ballardj@cfbisd.edu