2024 Difference Maker: Dr. Jim Daughters leading SEMO's band to new heights

Dr. Jim Daughters will not be outworked. His desire to produce and provide dates back to his childhood in Burlington, Kentucky.

“I grew up on a farm. I baled hay, chopped and hung tobacco and did everything that a farmer kid did. That hard work in me is just there. I have a desire to watch things grow and flourish,” Daughters said. “And plus, I'm really competitive, probably to a fault.”

After teaching band in public school in Kentucky for 16 years, Daughters realized he was “just kind of going through the motions.” He returned to school at the University of Kentucky and received a doctorate of the musical arts (DMA), his first teaching job after that was as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati. Soon after, Daughters took a role in Russellville, Arkansas, at Arkansas Tech. Daughters poured in as much as possible, but there was one hitch.

“[As conductor of] the professional wind band in Cincinnati, I was having to be in Russellville during the week and in Cincinnati on the weekends. And I drove it,” Daughters said. “Which was about 11 hours one way. I was doing that every single weekend, and I did that for a whole year.”

Currently, Daughters’ drive to contribute manifests itself in his role as university band director at Southeast Missouri State University. The SEMO job was posted as Daughters was looking for a new role, and even better, it didn’t require an 11-hour drive to Cincinnati. While taking the job at SEMO in 2021 made sense, the first year was a struggle because of the pandemic.

“I've been teaching for 23 years. And I think it was the hardest start of the school year that I've ever had,” Daughters said. “There was a lot I was trying to put back together and even figure out, and students fundamentally were different during that time, and they are since then.”

Daughters remembers students “literally having panic attacks about seeing other people” with it being “their first time away from home, for most of them.”

With a new job, new city, new normal, and new students, the change was substantial for Daughters. When it was time for the first football game in the fall of 2021, the south grandstand at the then-91-year-old Houck Field was condemned. However, all this change couldn’t stop Daughters, and he quickly dove right in.

The members of the band did the same. They embraced rehearsing music in the rain and would place loaves of bread on his door handle as a gift. Through the toughest times in Daughters’ life, from that first transitional year to a skin cancer diagnosis, Daughters said the students have been, and continue to be, a powerful support system.

“I've always thought education and love are the two most powerful tools we have in the world,” Daughters said. “The better we can educate people, the better we can help.”

SEMO was invited to perform at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Super Regional Championship of Bands of America in October 2023, marking a significant achievement for the university’s marching band.

"They worked their tails off for the last two years and they have consistently gotten better and they can see firsthand that hard work does pay off," Daughters told the Southeast Missourian in an April 2023 story. "When they're out there sweating on the field when it's 100 degrees, and they're still pushing, it's not for nothing."

It’s easy to see why the students are willing to give back to their director and community. By establishing a positive culture, people buy in and the cycle of giving back is powerful. It’s important for Daughters to give people something to care about. For him, “it's more fun, and enjoyable to choose to be great at something.”

The university band’s energetic performance at each and every parade, sets the tone and leads the way; a microcosm of the program's “all-in” mentality.

“Everyone's face lights up so much at the end of the parade, everyone looks like a million bucks as they're coming through, and it's created such a unique atmosphere,” Daughters said. Having acknowledged that the “band represents the community, and we serve the community,” Daughters said he wants to produce something that everyone can be proud of.

Currently, Daughters looks forward to connecting with the alumni band. The SEMO Band was renamed 10 years ago from the Golden Eagles to the RedHawks, and while the unilateral name change was embraced, Daughters knows the identity loss took a toll on the alumni.

“We're in the 118th year of the band this upcoming year. For years prior, it was The Golden Eagles. That marching band played at Super Bowl V, and even when you change the name, it's still Southeast Missouri State University. But some of what that did was take their identity from them,” Daughters said. While the support from the alumni has grown, Daughters says that reconnection is a constant journey.

Daughters embraces whatever challenges he faces head-on, with strong support from members of the department and members of the community. For Daughters, the memories created and the impact he can have through doing so are indispensable.

“I think everyone needs to have something in their life they can be proud of [where they can say], ‘Yes, I was a part of that, and it was a really special time of my life,’” Daughters said. “My goal is to give them that moment.”