By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - We teach our youth to take pride in themselves and pride is extremely important to a marching band. But it's hard to take pride in yourself when you don't look your best.
After reading about Niles being contacted by the producers of a new NBC reality show called Three Wishes, Niles resident Michelle (Hensler) Stauffer, knew she had a wish she could submit.
In late June, Stauffer read an article in the Niles Daily Star which was requesting Niles residents to submit wishes for members of the people, organizations or families in the community.
When Stauffer and her husband John attended Niles High School they were both members of the band.
Stauffer's father was also in the band and John's mother taught choir and piano lessons and some of her current students are in the band, so the family has many connections to the school's band program.
Looking back Stauffer remembers how Niles was the band in the area everyone wanted to be like. They received consistent division I ratings at district marching and concert festival, they also hosted the marching festival at the football stadium.
The wish Stauffer submitted to Three Wishes was for the Niles High School band to receive new uniforms.
At one point several years ago Stauffer was selling her previous house and thought about raffling off her home and giving the remainder of the funds after paying of her mortgage to the band but after the logistics were look at fully that idea didn't transpire.
So after reading the article Stauffer sat down at her computer and drafted an e-mail to the casting directors of Three Wishes telling them about the band and why they deserve new uniforms.
A couple of weeks after Stauffer sent out her original e-mail she received one back from casting director Stacy Kitter, wanting to hear more about how many members of her family were involved in the program and also wanted her to make a video elaborating more about why the band deserved to receive this wish.
It's not too late for members of the Niles community to make a wish of their own. You can submit your wish in one of three ways.
First they can e-mail them to Stacy Kitter at stacyk@glassmanmedia.com.
Next they can call (323) 845-3013 and lastly they can go to www.nbc.com, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and in the right hand corner and click on the apply now button and make their submission.