Band students at Washington school find a safer way to practice during COVID — pods

The show must go on — so a Washington high school band is getting creative to help stay safe from COVID-19.

The band at Wenatchee High School in central Washington has started using sealed-off changing tents so they can play together as the coronavirus continues to spread.

Teachers in the music and theater departments at the school came up with the idea to repurpose the tents to create pods for their students, Principal Eric Anderson told Q13.

The pop-up pod is an enclosed tent that has been modified, according to KHQ. Students take their instruments inside the pod, photos show, and there is still enough space for a music stand.

“We’ve modified those to create a clear, visible screen in front so students can see through that,” Anderson told Q13. “We’ve got our students inside those tents with their instruments, and that is where they play during the time they have music.”

The school has been using the pods since January, according to KHQ. Students typically are in the pods for fewer than 30 minutes, the TV station reported.

Wenatchee started a hybrid model as Washington schools returned to in-person learning. The school uses a system where students come to school in either the morning or afternoon and have each class for 35 minutes, Wenatchee World reported.

Students come to school for four days a week and are able to see their peers and teachers in person, Anderson told Wenatchee World.

“It was really important to us to find a solution for them to play together and not just play remotely,” Anderson told Q13. “Our students are super excited to be back in our building. … We took a lot of steps to make sure everybody was safe, and this is one of those steps.”