Flanagan, N. (2018, January 29). The Amazing Power of a Plain Old Arts Education.

A family who was friendly with ours when our children were young teenagers worried about their daughter, when she was entering high school. She was bright and verbal and (we all thought) loveable—but socially awkward and lacked confidence. She played oboe in the band, however, and went to band camp the week before her freshman year, an opportunity to become part of something bigger than herself, and to make friends with some upperclassmen. On the first day of school, carrying her lunch tray uncertainly, she was waved over by some students in the percussion section.