1 week Ago
Sherando High School's marching band has traded Virginia's chilly April weather for sunny Orlando, Florida, as it prepares to march in a parade at Walt Disney World this afternoon. The band arrived in Florida on Tuesday evening, their trip a culmination of a year-and-a-half-long process that included applying and being accepted, choosing music, fundraising and rehearsing. Director Joel Cosner said the performance, and the trip as a whole, is a great opportunity for students.
"A lot of kids, this is probably one of their first opportunities to get out of the state, to be able to travel ...
several states away or several hours away from home, so that's a big deal," he said Monday. "..
. A majority of these kids, it's probably one of their first times, if not their very first time, going to Disney." Cosner said he remembers his first trip to the popular theme park as a high school junior being a memorable opportunity.
For his students, he said the trip is "a really great experience that they'll be able to have and talk about for the rest of their lives." Sam Henshaw, a freshman trombone player for Sherando, said that being selected to perform at Disney out of so many applicants is exciting. "A bunch of bands apply every year, and I think it's really cool for us to get selected out of a bunch of bands in America that apply every year," he said.
Asked what he was most looking forward to on the trip, Henshaw said, "Spending time with everyone." Junior Josie Austin, one of Sherando's drum majors, said she's looking forward to performing in front of a new, unfamiliar audience. "It's a brand-new state.
Nobody knows us down there, so who knows? Maybe they'll look up Sherando, just a little band from Virginia," she said. Austin added that she's excited to spend quality time with her lifelong best friend, who is set to graduate from Sherando next month. Trumpet player Landon McConnell, who also is nearing the end of his high school career, said that taking a trip like this during his last marching band season at Sherando is a "a great note to go out on.
" "It's kind of a special group to me," he said. "And just, like, the thought of performing with everyone's kind of my main ..
. drive behind it." Cosner said the chance for the band to represent Sherando outside of Virginia is significant.
"There will be a lot of folks down there that will not know anything about the name Sherando or the school ...
And the first time, and the only time, that they will ever hear and see the name Sherando will be when they see us going down that parade route in Disney," he said. "So I tried to really emphasize to the students that performing with pride, making sure you're representing something much larger than yourselves in a really strong and powerful, positive way. Because, like I said, this might be the only time that some of those folks will ever be able to see and hear from anything of our school.
So I think that that's, that's a really powerful thing." Sherando's marching band is expected to perform during the 2:20 p.m.
parade in Disney's Magic Kingdom. The Sherando band boosters will livestream the performance on their Facebook page, and the video will remain available to view after the performance ends. The students will also get to experience some of the Disney attractions before returning home to Virginia in time to attend school on Friday.
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