The Blue Darter Marching Band and Apopka Cheer Team recently took a trip to DC to march down Constitution Avenue in the Annual Cherry Blossom Parade. Even though, the parade was the main reason for them going, they did so much exploring around Washington DC, seeing all the memorials and history along with it.
Two days before the parade were two full days of exploration. Starting at Udvar-Hazy Museum–an air and space museum. The space shuttle Discovery, which spent 365 days in orbit around Earth, is on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the museum. Afterward, it was time to start exploring the National Mall, including all the Smithsonians and monuments. There were two places where Mr. Langford, the band director, encouraged everyone to see. He expressed, “It’ll never get tiring to see our founding documents in the National Archives. And I will never get tired of seeing the “Star Spangled Banner” at the American History Museum. Like the flag that Francis Scott Key saw when he created the National Anthem, I will never get tired of those things, because that’s who we are.”
The next day started with a trip to Arlington Cemetery. The band got to witness the Changing Of Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which honors every soldier whose remains have not been found or whose identity hasn’t been identified. “I enjoyed seeing the Arlington National Cemetery,” Senior Talise Clay stated. The second day concluded with the night monument tour. You get to see most of the monuments lit up by the lights in the dark.
Saturday started bright and early; it was time to march in the parade. The band and cheerleaders had prepared hard for this moment, marching 2 miles down Constitution Ave while playing the Orange Blossom song to represent Florida. The Blue and White interviewed the cheerleading coach, Mrs. Bercegeay, asking about how they prepared for the parade, she answered, “We had practices starting at the beginning of March twice a week up until the day before we left. We even practiced one evening in the hotel to make sure the girls were ready for their big day,” including 4 practices with the band. We also interviewed the band members to see how their parade experience was. Head drum major Rachel Penney expressed, “It was a very cool experience being able to see so many historical buildings and marching past them.” A big thing that was trippy about the parade was the weather. The wind was all over the place and that was a common thing said among the interviewees. “The parade was fun minus the weather being bipolar and switching up on us in those hot and thick uniforms,” Freshman Jayla Jones explained. Sophomore Larue Aviles expressed, “I was able to showcase my actual drumming abilities and skills and have fun while doing it.” Now that the parade was over, it was time for the DC trip to come to an end.
With a 15-hour bus ride back home there was a lot of fun on the buses there and back. Band members are excited for what the upcoming marching band season has in store. As one of the band members, the trip was a great experience to explore our nation’s capitol. Getting to see things I hadn’t seen before and spending 5 full days walking around and exploring with my friends was super fun.
