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KAYSVILLE — The Davis High School marching band will be performing in one of the country’s biggest parades.
On Monday morning, students were told the band was selected to represent Utah and perform in the 2017 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. While the parade is more than a year away, the band will need to begin fundraising immediately for the big trip.
Band director Steven Hendricks had to keep the big news a secret from his students for several weeks.
“I knew about four weeks ago, and the first person I told was my wife,” Hendricks said. “And after that, I told my principal, and as the day has gotten closer, more and more people have come into the loop, including the media so they could be here today, but it’s been super hard to keep a secret.”
With the traditional confetti toss, the drive is now on to send some 200 Davis High School students to New York City in 2017. Even many of the upperclassmen who won't be around for the trip are ecstatic.
"They get to do something cool,” senior Brooklyn Morgan said. “I don't care that I’m not going to be a part of it because I already did my part."
"All my sisters were in the marching band, so I have big shoes to fill, because I'm the last one, and I’m going to Macy's,” said Megan Hoferitza, who will be a 10th-grader at Davis High School when the band performs in the parade.
The trip will provide the students with a true once-in-a-lifetime experience, not just the experience of the parade, Hendricks said.
“The majority of these kids have probably never even been on an airplane," he said. "This very well may be the only time in their entire life that they go to New York City.”
Hendricks said the students have put in a lot of hard work to get to this point. It's also a special moment in the band director's career, he said.
"I think band programs have to achieve a level of excellence to even put themselves in a position to apply for something like this,” he said.
Hendricks says a lot is expected from his students, but that hard work instills a lot of strength and pride, too.
“They know that we expect a lot of them, and we don’t put up with anything less than they can give,” he said. “They know that when we get after them, it’s because we love them and because we want them to be better.”
After 26 years at Davis High School, Hendricks said the Macy's parade will be special for one more reason: The 2017 school year will be his last before he retires.
American Fork's band appeared in the Macy's parade in 2014 and was the last Utah high school to do so. Hendricks said he will be looking to American Fork's band program for a lot of guidance in the months ahead.
