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Northeast Band Is D.C.-Bound For Inaugural Events

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By KATIE CORONADO

News Channel 8

Published: January 6, 2009

Updated: 01/06/2009 04:25 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Today is the final rehearsal for 62 members of Northeast High School's marching band before they travel to Washington, D.C., next week to perform in the Presidential Inaugural Heritage Music Festival, one of the activities leading to Barack Obama taking the oath of office.

"To be able to see history made in my lifetime is extraordinary," said Danielle Batcheller, a junior, and band president. Some of us haven't been over the bridge to Tampa," she said.

The group, clad in black-tie duds, will be among 4,000 musicians from around the world playing at the festival, which runs Jan. 16-19. The tuxedos and black dresses were paid for through a Pinellas County School Board grant for the arts.

The students have been practicing for about 30 hours a week outside of class to prepare for their performance at 1:50 p.m. Jan. 18 at George Mason University, band director Greg Urban said.

It's Northeast's first major band trip in about 15 years, Urban said. The band has raised nearly half of the excursion's $70,000 price tag through fundraisers such as golf tournaments and car washes.

"It's a historic and big event for the kids," Urban said.

The Northeast students will perform "Americans We" and "Sleep."

The students, who opted for the trip voluntarily, each paid $750 for the five-day, four-night trip.

Students had to have at least a 2.5 grade-point average, less than five absences and no disciplinary record.

"As a principal of a school you always want this kind of publicity," Kevin Hendricks said.

The group will watch Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration at the Capitol from the National Mall. Urban said they weren't able to get tickets for the entire group so they opted to stay together and see the ceremony from a distance.

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