VALDOSTA — Three grand championships is no easy feat for a high school band director.

For Michael Thomas, director of Valdosta High School’s Marching Cats, three grand championships in three years have been cornerstones in his career at the school.

Though Thomas has been a band director for 15 years, only three of them have been spent in Valdosta.

His love for music and band began at a much earlier age.

Thomas became involved with band as a middle school student in Hinesville.

In addition to enjoying the music, Thomas said band kept him out of trouble.

“I didn’t grow up in the best of neighborhoods,” Thomas said. “Band gave me something to do with my free time outside of getting into trouble.”

Throughout his career in band — in middle school, high school and college — Thomas was a percussionist.

Thomas said he did not originally plan to become a band director. An avid baseball player, his original career goals involved baseball or becoming a U.S. Marshall.

In the end though, Thomas decided that becoming a band director would be the best career choice.

He said the U.S. Marshall and band director positions may sound wildly different but do serve a similar function.

“They are both serving the community,” he said.

Before coming to Valdosta High School, Thomas served as band director at Northside High School in Warner Robins for a year.

“When this position came open, I took a look at it, at the history and tradition of the program, but it was not in very good shape,” Thomas said.

He saw the program as an opportunity to truly be able to help students and to teach and develop a program, Thomas said.

The Marching Cats has a roster of 152 students, said Thomas, with more than 170 students involved in the band program.

In addition to leading the Marching Cats to three grand championships, Thomas works with the wind symphony, jazz ensemble, percussion ensemble and concert band at the school.

The percussion ensemble, concert band and wind symphony are classes Thomas teaches throughout a school day. The jazz ensemble usually practices before school, while marching band practices happen after school.

The wind symphony has earned superior ratings, and three students within the band program have been named to the All State band — the most to come from a single school south of Macon, he said.

“The last three years have been very productive,” Thomas said.

The keys to successful students and a successful program are discipline, motivation and passion, Thomas said.

Teaching students self-discipline is vitally important.

Motivation and passion are inspired in students by seeing the dedication the teacher has to work toward a certain goal with them, he said.

Seeing a teacher’s motivation opens the door to learning, Thomas said.

When a student succeeds at a task set out for them, Thomas counts it as a great reward for a job well done, he said.

“Even though sometimes you have to chisel away at the rough spots,” Thomas said.

To see the triumph in their faces when they have done something good is proof that they can do it, he said.

“That’s the most enjoyable thing and the most tiring thing about my job,” Thomas said.

Thomas teaches classes and handles all the administrative aspects of working with the band and other music programs.

“There are no typical days,” Thomas said.

A band director does not have time off, he said.

As soon as graduation is over, Thomas and others begin prepping for July and band camp when the season starts all over again.

Thomas said he bases his decisions on musical arrangements for the band and other programs on the desire to help the students be more successful.

He also has to take into consideration the varied tastes of those who are exposed to the Valdosta High band program.

Fans at football games might not necessarily want music that the band plays for competition, while others may only see the Marching Cats during a parade.

The jazz ensemble, concert bands and percussion help round out a varied palette of music available to the public at Valdosta High School.

“We try to have something for everybody,” Thomas said, “for every student and person in the community.”

The varied styles of music within the program reflect Thomas’ personal taste. There is not a genre of music Thomas hasn’t tapped into, he said.

Thomas encourages students to pursue music on into college and has so far helped six students get music scholarships.

Others, Thomas said, wait until they get to college to try out.

Thomas went to Troy State University on a scholarship. At the university he majored in music education, receiving a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in the field.

He has received an education specialist degree from the University of Sarasota and is currently working on a doctorate in educational leadership from Argosy University.

Before working at Northside High School, Thomas spent eight years as the band director at Americus-Sumter County High School in Americus and spent two years developing a band program from the ground up at Calhoun County High School in Edison.

Thomas’ time outside the band room and away from the practice field is mostly spent working on his doctoral dissertation. His current goal is to figure out what to do with his limited free time.

“It’s something I’m working on. It’s tough to have free time,” Thomas said.

When Thomas worked in Atlanta, he played with a concert band. Since he now lives so far away, he had to give up that hobby, he said.

Fifteen years on the job motivates a person to strive for new ways to be inspired by the job, Thomas said.

“It’s been tough this year not to get burnout,” Thomas said. “But when I see kids that love music walk in the door, and you can tell that this practice room is a comfort zone for them, it recharges me. It gives me a third wind.”