Welcome to DAY 2 of the West Johnston whirlwind tour of New York City!! The most exciting news is that today Brandon Allen, drum major for West Johnston, was awarded the prestigious Bob Hope scholarship. To win this scholarship, Brandon wrote an essay detailing what he imagined it would be like if he and Bob Hope were drum majors together in the West Johnston Band. Bob Hope's daughter presented the award at a reception for all the high school bands that were chosen to participate in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Our day was packed from start to finish. We started out on a 4 hour bus trip of New York City. Each bus took a different route and had different stops along the way, all of which included a stop at Ground Zero. After the tour, we had tickets for the Top of the Rock. The clouds parted and the sun was shining. The view was nothing less than spectacular. Groups all had a little free time in the city and may opted to see St. Patrick's Cathedral. Afterward, we all met for dinner at Applebee's Restaurant on 50th St. in a 3rd floor room with great views of the area. After dinner, we all walked down to the Gershwin Theater and were treated to an amazing performance of Wicked. We finished the evening with a walk to Times Square where a professional photographer took a few shots of all the kids together.

We are all SO proud of this group of high school students.....just imagine moving 190 kids through New York City on a 4 hour bus tour, getting up to the top of the Rockefeller Center, to dinner in the theater district, to a Broadway show and then to Times Square for a group picture and then back to the busses all without incident. It is absolutely amazing how much has been packed in to each day. It would not be possible to do so much if the kids were not as responsible as they are.

Tomorrow will be practice at Giant's Stadium, free time in the city and then a dinner/dance cruise. This experience is an amazing gift to our kids.....something that they will remember always.

Hello from New York City!!! (Well, actually New Jersey, but close enough!).

We had a busy, but great day today. The bus trip coming up was uneventful and the drivers made really good time. We checked in to the hotel about 5:30 AM and met for breakfast buffet at 7:45. The hotel is very nice and the food so far has been great. We got on the bus at 9 and headed to the harbor cruise. It was amazing. Our guide was really knowledgeable and very much a New Yorker. We cruised down the Hudson River, around the tip of Manhattan and up the East River. We saw some very familiar sites like the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty and the UN. Our guide also have a lot of wonderful stories and historical trivia to add, making the tour really fun and interesting.

After the cruise, we were dropped off near Times Square and had a few hours of free time. A lot of groups went to the M & M and Hershey Stores. Our group went to the Toys R Us and some of the kids rode the 3 story Ferris wheel.

We got back to the hotel around 4 and the kids rehearsed for the parade in the parking lot of the hotel. Then they had free time until dinner. All in all it was a great day, very tiring and very fun.

The kids, as usual were wonderful. The tour guide on the harbor cruise told us that they were one of the most polite, well behaved group of kids he has seen on the boat. It is always such a pleasure to travel with them. These pictures are just some miscellaneous shots from the day.

Tonight we had a nice dinner buffet at the hotel and now are preparing for lights out. We have a long day tomorrow with a 4 hour bus tour of the city, some free time, top of the rock tickets, dinner at Applebee's and then to see Wicked tomorrow night. WOW!! It is going to be quite a day.

West Johnston Marching Band wins at both Sanderson and Cary Band Days!!

Our marching season has come to an amazing end. The kids worked incredibly hard all fall and it certainly showed on the field last Saturday night. As a chaperone, I have to say that there is not a more polite, fun loving, disciplined group of kids to be found. They are incredibly supportive of one another as well as all the other bands that perform. I could not say this better than Mr. Britt so I am just going to copy his words that he sent to the Band Parent's Association:

"What a show!!! If you weren't there, you missed our best show in seven years. As a result, our band scored a 97.8, the highest score we have ever received by far! It was a magical evening from start to finish and brought to a close our first undefeated season to date!

For those that weren't able to be with us, the band won all captions in Class 5A, the Grand Sweepstakes for the third year in a row (highest combined score of the parade and field show), and for the first time in seven years the awards for best Drumline and Brass Section of the entire day! In fact, our brass section received a PERFECT score from the field music judge!

We would like to take a moment to thank Mr. Register, our drumline, and our front ensemble as well for their hard work and dedication this season. Without a doubt they have had a hard road throughout the course of this season due to the fact their membership changed twice during the course of the fall. Without a doubt their journey was the toughest of any section on the field.

Regardless of the challenges they faced, they stayed the course, work hard every day, and made any/all changes that had to be made to be their best. As a result, they were awarded with the highest score our percussion section has ever received, a 98, which allowed them to win the overall percussion championship for the first time. Great job guys! We look forward to seeing what you have in store for us this winter!

It was an incredible marching band season in every way. Our kids worked hard each and every day and performed like champions both on and off the field. They have done what no one in the state has done in the last 20 years by winning a BOA Regional, scored the highest score anyone can remember, and have just concluded our first true undefeated season. We know you are as proud of their achievements as we are."

Now it is time to turn our attention to Macy's. This is going to be the best yet...to see our kids march down Broadway and perform in Herald Square in front of 42 million viewers!

West Johnston Marching Band are the Bands of America 2008 Regional CHAMPIONS!!

Wow...what an incredible weekend for the West Johnston Marching Band! The band left school early Friday morning to head for the regional Bands of America competition in Towson, Maryland. On the way, the group of over 200 stopped in Washington DC to have lunch at the Old Post Office and to tour the Capitol building.

The band was phenomenal both on and off the field. In D.C., the kids were all polite, respectful and inquisitive. On the field, they gave it everything they had and it showed. This is one amazing group of high school students! Please check back often for more pictures of this incredible weekend with the West Johnston Marching Band!!

The theme of our show this year “Inner Compass: Songs from the West Side” celebrates the success that the West Johnston Band has built with hard work and dedication over these past 7 years. Last weekend, close to 50 West Johnston Band Alumni reunited on the West Johnston campus to support the current band program during the 5th annual West Johnston Marching Band Invitational. These founding West band members and their parents were on hand to support their band with their presence and the present of over $1000 in contributions to the band for the Invitational Trophies and the Grand Champion Alumni Cup. Led by two former drum majors, Spencer Blalock and Emily Johnson, the alumni presented the participating bands with their trophies. Thanks to former band parents Lindy Marshall and Peggy Utley for sponsoring the alumni tent and coordinating the participation of the alumni. We look forward to hosting many more returning alumni at next year’s West Johnston Band Invitational! (Thank you to Martha Engeman for this post and to Dave Morse for the picture.)

Coming up this weekend is the regional Bands of America competition in Towson, Maryland!

What a weekend!

What a great weekend for our band! On Friday night our football team walked away with a victory against Clayton (making them now 8-0 WOW!), homecoming week ended with a half time celebration and our amazing band performed their show after the game.



Then on Saturday, West hosted our annual Invitational with 19 bands performing! It was a huge success for our band. Thank you to all the parents and kids who helped make it such a great day.

Last Wednesday, we were $31,200 away from the total needed to get the band to Macy's. This morning that total has dropped to $19,943 due to the INCREDIBLE response from our community and the support of our school. Thank you to everyone for working SO hard to make this trip a reality for our kids.

Welcome to the March to Macy’s blog! The West Johnston High School Marching Band in Benson, North Carolina is heading to the 2008 Macy’s Day parade! These kids have worked so hard for this honor and we are all so proud of them. As you can imagine, this is an expensive proposition to get over 180 kids (along with props, uniforms and instruments) to New York. We are still $32,000 away from paying for the trip in full. Please consider a donation of any amount to help make this happen for this incredible group of kids. This photo is of a full scale replica of what is painted in Herald Square in front of Macy's every year for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. It is painted directly behind the cafeteria at West for the kids to use when practicing for the Macy's show.

WOW…our football team is amazing this year!! The team is now 7-0 going in to the game this Friday night. West will face the Clayton Comets and we are expecting a sell-out crowd! The band is in the stands every home game to help rouse the crowd and spur our team on to victory. This Friday night (the Homecoming game) the band will perform the half time show immediately following the game. The guard has their new uniforms (that were debuted at last week’s game) and the flags are just about complete. And did you see those props last week? They are amazing!

The weekend before last the kids had their first competition in the evening and they marched in the Mule Days parade in the morning. What a great day for our band! The parents were all hard at work raising money for the program at Mule Days while the kids marched, practiced and then competed that night. The band took Grand Champion over all classes for overall show. Congratulations!!!

One of the things that is so gratifying about this program is that the kids learn at such a young age how, with hard work and determination, they can do anything they set their minds to. They work so hard on their show and they come together as a team week after week to perform so beautifully. This program is helping to turn out a wonderful generation of leaders for our community and we are just so proud of them all!!

Our Invitational is this weekend at West and we will be hosting 18 area bands for this competition.

Please check back often (or subscribe to this site) for updates on what our band is up to!