BENTONVILLE (KFSM) -- Eleven students from the Bentonville High School band and color guard have been selected to participate in the 2017 Rose Bowl Parade. A reception was held at Bentonville High School on Tuesday (Oct. 18) to congratulate the students.
The students were selected through an audition process to appear in the Bands of America Honor Band. They will march in a group of 300 students from across the country.
"The auditions were submitted by the end of January and then they were judged by a panel of judges and critiqued and everything, and based on that, the children were accepted into the band," band boosters president Lynn Manning said.
Only one other student from the state of Arkansas was selected for the band, which is what tuba player Mason Moore said makes the band program at Bentonville so great.
"I think what it says in Bentonville is a lot different than what we have from the rest of the state," Moore said. "The opportunity we have here, it's extraordinary."
The Honor Band participates in the parade once every three years making the selection even more prestigious. Manning said she is excited to attend the parade to cheer on her band family.
"I've watched the parade all my life, New Year's Day, it's kind of a thing to do at home," Manning said. "But to actually be there and see my children, and my band children there as well, is just going to be phenomenal. I'm going to be busting at the seams."
The parade will take place in Pasadena, California on Jan. 2, 2017.