Hillhouse Band Goes to DC for Memorial Day parade!

By Zariyah Renee Whitehurst

Since the COVID pandemic our school’s current band director Mr. Joshua Smith has been having quite a hard time trying to rebuild the band. But despite that, he brought a band together in the past 4 years– built it from the ground up and just this past Memorial Day, they represented our school and the entire state of Connecticut in the National Memorial Day parade in Washington, DC. 

The band students who attended the trip have been practicing for many weeks while fundraising, selling chocolate, discount cards, even using businesses like Texas Roadhouse to help raise the money they needed. It was a very costly trip, and it came down to the wire when they raised the money for this trip, even Mr. Smith himself and a few of the band students paid money out of their own pockets to be able to afford it, the total cost of the trip came out to around $35,000. While in Washington, DC the band also went to museums, memorials (like the Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and MLK memorials) , monuments and even a concert to learn the meaning of Memorial Day and the reason behind  its celebration. These stories were told of the  men and women who gave everything for our country, even their lives. 

I was able to  interview one of the drummers from the band, Jeffery Zarate– a junior who plays the Tenor drum and is also in the blue steel drumline. Afterwhich I was able to interview Brenda Zecua-Bastida, who plays flute for the Hillhouse band and is also a part of the School’s JROTC program. Brenda is also currently a junior.

Whitehurst: What made this trip so important for you?

Zarate: Representing the whole state of connecticut and representing the school made this trip so important

Whitehurst: Were you ever nervous about the trip?

Zarate: No, I'm never nervous, I just see every trip as a performance.

Whitehurst: How did you feel about the parade? Was it refreshing to see other bands there?

Zarate: Yes, I was happy to see the other bands there, and I was especially happy to see two more southern bands and feel the energy from them and their performance.

Whitehurst: What was something interesting that you learned on this trip?was there anything you found out that you didn't know before?

Zarate: The amount of willpower I have and how much stamina I have. The different change in environment was a challenge because we were marching in the heat and in a different environment.

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Whitehurst: What made this trip so important for you?

Zecua-Bastida: Being able to perform in front of a Huge audience that doesn't know us.

Whitehurst: Were you ever nervous about the trip?

Zecua-Bastida: Yes, I was nervous to leave my home and go to a new place I didn’t know

Whitehurst: How did you feel about the parade? Was it refreshing to see other bands there?

Zecua-Bastida: I felt very excited and nervous, but happy to see the other performing bands there. I liked that the band that was behind us was playing pass the peas with us.

Whitehurst: What was something interesting that you learned on this trip?was there anything you found out that you didn't know before?

Zecua-Bastida: I liked that we got to see the different memorials in the short amount of time we were there, I found out some new things about abraham lincoln