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By Kate Schoener

For the Jefferson Forest Marching Band, New Year’s will be about more than just watching the ball drop in New York City. In fact, they won’t even be in the United States.

The high school band was recently asked to play at London’s 26^th annual New Year’s Day Parade and Festival. The band will leave on December 27 from the Dallas airport and return home on January 4. Not only will they get to be a part of the parade, but they will also have a chance to sightsee.

When the students found out about their invitation to the parade, excitement in person and on Facebook spread like a wildfire. Grace Parker, an 11^th grader who is part of the color guard, is ecstatic about the trip.

“I couldn’t believe it. It’s a big honor. It’s really exciting to go all the way to London!” she exclaimed.

Each band member, out of the 150, will have to raise their own money for the trip. The students are participating in fundraisers, such as car washes and bake sales. They are also working any odd jobs they can find: mowing neighbor’s lawns, babysitting, working for their parents and selling different items at school. Destiny Barnett, an11^th grader and drum major for the band, has raised over $800 selling flower pens she made from items at the Dollar Store.

“I saw a lot of students with them at school so I took advantage of the opportunity and started selling them,” she said.

Selection for the parade was partially due to the connections of David Webb, band director for Jefferson Forest. This will be his fourth trip to London for the parade. His first time was as assistant band director of E.C. Glass High School. The other two trips were with the Jefferson Forest (JF) band in 2000 and 2005.

Webb has been the band director at JF for 14 years.

“Oh gosh, yeah, I love this job. The only reason to do this is if you love it,” he said.

For his part, Webb is also very excited about the trip and the opportunity to offer a new level of real-life experience to the talented students who comprise his band.

“The trip is magnificent,” he enthused. “The kids get so much out of the trip and the performance is great. The audience consists of 1 million people on street. It’s their version of the Macy’s Day parade. It’s televised all over world. The students will get to sightsee places like St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. They are getting the opportunity to go do something you can’t do with a book.”

London will be offering a live video feed of the parade to any station that wants to pick it up. Local stations can pick it up and televise it; however, it will be morning in London and the middle of night here in Virginia when the band is actually playing.

As if a trip to England and the opportunity to march in the New Year’s Parade weren’t enough, another honor was recently given to the band when the Jefferson Forest Wind Symphony, the band’s premier concert ensemble, was accepted to the Music For All National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis. The festival will take place from March 15-17.

“This is a pretty big honor for any high school band,” Webb explained.

The Music For All National Concert Band Festival is hosted by the organization, Music For All. For 40 years, this organization has promoted music education in schools and sponsored that kind of education and performances worldwide. Over 85,000 students participate in their programs each year. Only 12 to 16 high school bands are chosen to attend the Concert Band Festival, so when JF found out they had been accepted, the students were elated.

For some students, the greatest opportunity that lies in both of these opportunities is the chance to travel, and experience the world beyond Forest, Virginia, in a whole new way.

“[I'm most excited about] just, like, the whole new atmosphere,” Parker said. “We don’t travel a lot. I’ve never been out of the United States.”