The Tri-City Band Corps was founded in 2004 as a spinoff of another local community band which was founded 1 year prior. It was in July of 2004 when the two groups decided to split based on management ideology. The Tri-City Band Corps wanted to put learning and students first, envisioning an organization led and run completely by high school students. These students would be responsible for all aspects of the group including legal, music, membership, logistics, finance, and more. The group first met on July 4th, 2004, and officially organized itself on July 11th, 2004 under the leadership of Harrison Cheng and TBC’s first CEO Eric Ching. The group was founded on a few major ideals, which remain essential to the operation of the group today:
1) Honor – Harrison made a promise to the friends he had recruited that this would be an organization that would provide them with musical, leadership, and educational opportunities. When he felt that the previous community band they had been in could no longer live up to those commitments, Harrison spent a great deal of his finances and countless hours to get TBC started, despite never formally serving as an officer of TBC, since he wanted to provide leadership roles for other students. To this day, TBC has never made a commitment to its members or partner organizations that it has not kept, even when at times, the cost outweighed the benefits.
2) Loyalty – TBC values the friendships and bonds forged within the group and places great weight on the contributions each member makes to the group as a whole. A large factor in our officer selection process includes the dedication each member has shown to the group. In turn, TBC makes sure that the group remains a safe, open, and supportive environment for all members.
3) Education – The group was founded to provide students a chance to learn and practice leadership skills, and musical skills, and to mutually support each other. Without any funding, Harrison, as a recent high school graduate, spent $6,000 of his own money to get the group started by purchasing instruments, music, and uniforms. During this time, Harrison and Eric would also make pitches for support to local volunteer organizations, the group found its first major supporter through Citizens for a Better Community (CBC) a few months later, which to this day remains a strong supporter of TBC with regular donations, partnerships, and support for rehearsal facilities.
Three years later in 2007, the last 2 students, who were both freshmen when Harrison had recruited them into the East Bay Scout Band, graduated. Despite having fulfilled his initial goal, with the continued growth and success of TBC, Harrison decided to keep the group running.
Today, TBC boasts a membership of over 2600 members and over 1000 alumni who have participated with us in one way or another. In 2017, TBC managed our greatest achievement to date, defeating the DCI World Class Sacramento Mandarins in competition at the NCBA-judged Rancho Cordova July 4th Parade. Over the years TBC has included members from Mission, Irvington, Kennedy, American, Washington, Logan, Foothill, Dublin, Monta Vista, Monte Vista, Amador Valley, Milpitas, Hayward, Newark, San Mateo, Dougherty Valley, Piedmont, California high schools. TBC is the largest independent marching band program focused on community parades and is the only program run completely by high school students. We participate in several parades throughout the year all over the Bay Area. In addition, TBC has performed internationally at the 2016 London New Year's Day Parade and the 2018 Rome New Year's Day Parade.
While the officer boards and students have changed year after year, much remains the same as well. Each student member and especially the officers learn a great deal, not just in the theories of leadership, but through hands-on practical training as well. Many of our senior leaders have gone on to great institutions and future careers having learned from their time with TBC.
Current Chief Executive Officers:
2024-2025 – Patricia Wu (East Bay), Pheona Ma (South Bay)
Former Chief Executive Officers:
2023 – 2024 – Anna Schein - UC Santa Cruz
2022 – 2023 – Sean Sung - Cornell University
2021 – 2022 – Soumya Rai - UC Berkeley
2018 – 2021 – Annie Wen - University of Southern California
2018 – 2019 – Megna Anand - UC San Diego
2016 – 2018 – Jessica Lee – University of Texas, BBA; Associate at Boston Consulting Group
2015 – 2016 – Sara Tsai – UC Berkeley & Harvard Law School
2014 – 2015 – Madeline Zheng – University of Southern California; Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company
2013 – 2014 – Kunaal Naik – Georgia Tech; CTO at Memora Health
2012 – 2013 – Kelly Chu – UC Berkeley, BA & Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley MBA, Product Manager at Vyrill
2011 – 2012 – Jasmine Chen – University of Pennsylvania, BS Nursing; Duke University, Doctor of Nursing Practice in Anesthesia; Nurse Anesthetist New York Presbyterian Hospital
2010 – 2011 – Alvin Lee – UC Riverside
2009 – 2010 – May Wang – UC Berkeley, BA; Student, UCLA Masters of Architecture
2008 – 2009 – Jeanette Su – UC Berkeley, BA; Business Operations Senior Manager at Curology
2007 – 2008 – Inga Chen – UC Berkeley, BA; Product Manager at Spotify
2007 – 2008 – Adele Feng – UC Berkeley, BA; UCSF, Pharmacy; Clinical Pharmacist Lead at Cricket Health
2006 – 2007 – Lindsey Hong – UC Berkeley, BA
2005 – 2006 – Cindy Quan – University of the Pacific, Dentistry
2004 – 2005 – Eric Ching – UC Berkeley, BA; University of San Diego, JD; Real Estate & Business Attorney at Ching & Seto, APC
