Area high school students to march in National Independence Day Parade

  Thursday, June 30, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

On Friday, 66 members of the Mid America All-Star Marching Band will head to Washington, D.C., where they will represent the state of Kansas in the 2016 National Independence Day Parade.

Although they will officially represent the state of Kansas, the band, with students from 10 area high schools, also includes students from Jasper and Lamar in Missouri and Quapaw, in Oklahoma.

Doug Whitten, director of Pittsburg State University’s Pride of the Plains Marching Band, organized the trip and is directing the band. He said the students selected are some of the best in the region.

“The students were nominated by their high school band directors,” Whitten said, “so they are some of the best.”

The students have been rehearsing several numbers in preparation for the trip and will have a final rehearsal at PSU Thursday afternoon.

“It’s a big honor to march in the national Independence Day Parade,” Whitten said. “It’s an experience I think all of the students will remember.”

In addition to marching in the parade, the band will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and see some of the sights of the nation’s capitol. They’ll also stop in Muncie, Ind., to attend a drum and bugle corps competition on their way to Washington.

“It’s a lot of work and a long trip, but it’s exciting to participate in something this significant,” Whitten said. “I know they’ll represent Kansas and the region well.”