Redwood in the 56th Presidential Inaugural Parade: Jan. 21, 2009
SMB thanks Redwood Assistant Music Director Jon Jow for this article. Photos courtesy of parent chaperone Barry Chaffin.
On Sunday, January 18, 2009, the students of the Redwood Middle School Marching Band & Auxiliary Units departed on a historic tour to Virginia and Washington, D.C. to not only represent our school and our district, but also our entire state and their entire generation of American young people. Redwood left for the East Coast in three separate groups, each led by staff members and a platoon of enthusiastic chaperones. Flight by flight, we arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, where we got settled in their “East coast home,” the Embassy Suites in Williamsburg, and prepared for the exciting days ahead.
On Monday, the students began their tour of historic Virginia at Yorktown and Jamestown, while I traveled to Washington D.C. via car and metro with SUSD Superintendent Mr. Weiss and Redwood Principal Mrs. Green to attend a mandatory pre-parade meeting with the US Armed Forces where we received further parade information, bus passes, our Secret Service security clearance badges, and met our military parade escort, Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Gregg Ramsdell. Following the meeting, Mr. Weiss, Mrs. Green, and I took some time to walk around the capitol and take in the sites at night, including the U.S. Capitol and the White House. The streets were busy with travelers from all across the country, street vendors, workers setting up parade floats and jumbotrons, others putting the finishing touches along the parade route, and an overall incredible energy and excitement for the day to come!
For the students, parents, and accompanying staff, Tuesday began early with a wake-up call of 1:00 AM. Redwood departed Williamsburg for D.C. at 2:00 AM. Upon seeing the students sleeping on the buses, I could tell that they had a full and educational day while I was at the meeting. What a shift of gears for these young adults – they were going from learning about our country’s historical past to being a part of its history-in-the-making in a period of less than 24 hours! By 5:00 AM, as we traveled toward our nation’s capitol, the backup of cars waiting to park at the metro was already over a mile long! Before most of our friends and families back on the West coast had woken up (or even gone to bed!), we had passed out student identifications, parade security clearance badges, said goodbye to our chaperones and staff (with the exception of myself and Mrs. Wyant) at the metro stop near the Pentagon, and entered the Pentagon grounds for security screening. Each parade group was only allowed two accompanying members, so the rest of our trip family took the metro into the city to claim their spots along the parade route. As we were told ahead of time, the time up until the parade was a lot of “waiting, then fast moving, then waiting again.” After security clearance at the Pentagon, we waited on the buses in the Pentagon parking lot (staging area 1), from where you might have caught a glimpse of some of our students on morning news shows such as the Today Show.
Around 9:30 AM, we traveled via police-escorted bus motorcade across the Potomac to the warming tents (staging area 2), where we drove around the Washington Monument and were completely mesmerized by the oceans of people that surrounded us (literally as far as the eye could see)! We unloaded the buses, hauled our equipment into the warming tents, and waited once more, surrounded by members of such groups as the US Army, the Colts Drum & Bugle Corps, the Florida University A&M Marching Band, and the Punahou High School Marching Band (Obama’s high school from Hawaii). Collectively, we all watched the inauguration on flat screen televisions throughout the tent, and heard the live echoes of the speeches from outside. Finally, we left the tents to line up along Constitution Ave. (staging area 3), where we waited in the freezing cold for the parade to start with Mrs. Wyant and I keeping the students as warm as possible. It was here that we experienced the kindness and compassion of not only the parade committee and organizers, but also the local law enforcement officers as well as members of the Armed Forces – offering us spots for temporary warming in their vehicles as well as loaning their gloves to some of our numbed fingers.
Despite the cold and the extreme wind chill, the band and auxiliary marched down Pennsylvania Ave. and gloriously took their few exciting moments performing in front of President Obama, Vice President Biden, their families, and other dignitaries with tall postures, high toes, big smiles, waving flags, sparkling plumes, and a whole lot of pride. All 116 of our students completed the parade! Regardless of the many instances of them thinking “I can’t,” we all made it back to our buses after the end of a long and cold day, where we were reunited with our tour guides, other staff, and chaperones. To explain the significance of this accomplishment, approximately 21 adults and high school students had dropped out from the 22 groups ahead of us due to the cold. We began to reclaim warmth at our dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and I’m sure everyone fell asleep just as quickly as I did upon returning to our hotel!
The following day, we woke up refreshed and toured Williamsburg during the day, and took another tour at night guided by lantern light. I believe that the students (at this point still defrosting), were glad that they all persevered through the entire parade and were able to be part of such a wonderful and historical event that they will remember for the rest of their lives, and will be even more proud of as they continue their educations and mature into adulthood. During our final evening, our tour “family” met in our hotel’s dining room for hot chocolate and cookies, and celebrated our accomplishments of the prior few days before going up to our rooms and packing our bags to return to the West Coast.
Redwood all returned home safe and sound on Thursday, January 22, 2009. I am sure that I speak for all of our tour chaperones and staff when I say that we are extremely proud of how each and every student represented themselves with class, enthusiasm, pride, and style! We were honored to take this tour with them and help them be a part of one of the most significant events of modern American history
Our OnTrek Tour Guides, our Superb Bus Drivers from Yankee Trails, and our Parade Escort Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Gregg Ramsdell
Our Awesome Tour Chaperones: Mrs. Bancroft (also our invaluable chaperone coordinator!), Mrs. Buchanan, Mrs. Burns, Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Chu, Mr. Eng, Mr. Everett, Mrs. Galvin, Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Jensen, Mrs. Jensen, Mr. Okada, Mrs. Menard, Mrs. Shankar, Mrs. Tanaka
Our Fearless Truck Drivers/Equipment Managers: Mr. Chaffin, Mr. Culbert
Our Tireless Staff: Mr. Weiss, Mrs. Green, Mrs. Wyant, Mr. Wyant, Mrs. Kolb, Ms. Green
…and everyone who supported us back home and around the country for the help, donations, and warm wishes to make our historic tour a success!!!
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