Band instructor Gregg Walker has been at Hillsboro for five years and had originally wanted the high school band to march at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

Due to a few conflicts, the band wasn't able to go. Even though the Alamo Bowl option was no longer available, Walker's idea to take his high school band students to Texas continued. Last weekend, the dream finally became reality.

Since the beginning of the 2004-05 school year, the Trojan band has been planning and fund-raising for the trip to Texas that took place May 6-8. A number of events were held to raise funds, and thanks to the positive response from parents and other community members, the $12,000 goal that was needed was reached.

A few of the fund-raisers include selling merchandise from magazines, an evening of dessert and jazz with entertainment provided by the HHS Jazz Band, running concession stands at HHS and Tabor College baseball and softball games and holding a work auction, where students' services were auctioned off to parents and other community members.

"(I liked) the work auction because I didn't have to do that much," said Daniel Roble, a freshmen member of the band.

Getting there

The events of the first day of the trip officially began at 1 a.m., Friday, when jazz band members met at the school to practice their pieces one last time before leaving for Texas.

Two and a half hours later, the students loaded their luggage onto a charter bus from Village Charter in Wichita and left for a six-hour drive to Denton, Texas.

Driving through the darkness had various effects on the band members. Goofing off seemed to reign, with a pillow football flying down the aisle as well as other methods of goofing around.

"It was fun joking around," said Caitlin Reimer, freshman.

But of course, there was also the other end of the spectrum.

Sophomore Lora Andrews put it simply: "I slept."

Once in Texas, one of the first things the band did was tour the University of North Texas College of Music. The guide led the group around the campus, showing the students different parts of the school's facilities.

Darren Enns, sophomore, noted that it was "bigger than K-State."

The students had the chance to listen to one of the university's jazz groups practicing, and many of them were awed by how impressive the players were.

"The bass player was really good," said freshman Anna Woelk.

Another highlight of the tour was the Murchison Performing Arts Center. The concert hall was built in a dome shape, and has a silver exterior.

Roble said, "That was cool; it reminded me of an armadillo."

After the tour at the university, the band headed to a local church to change into their performance tuxedos. This was when one of the major unplanned highlights of the trip took place.

To get to the church, the bus had to drive up a steep incline. The bus driver gunned the vehicle, and quickly began its ascent up the driveway. The bus scraped bottom (in the process jumping a curb into a large mud puddle), taking all four back wheels off of the ground, deeming the bus immobile.

A round of applause commenced.

When the driver pushed the acceleration pedal, the spinning back wheels did nothing to move the bus, but it did-to the amusement of the entire band-send a geyser of muddy water into the air.

"It was funny when the bus got stuck," said freshman Cody McMillen, "and how he tried to get out of there."

A tow truck eventually was able to move the bus, and the band was once again on the road, now headed for Richardson High School in the suburbs of Dallas.

Performing

The music festival was being hosted at RHS by the Director's Choice of Dallas organization. The schedule for Hillsboro had the concert band going first and the jazz band second. Both bands played exceptionally well.

"I think we did really well, although there's always room to improve," said Roble.

Woelk said, "Most of our songs were the best we ever played them."

"The trombones were dang good!" Enns said.

The band ended up with six awards. Three trophies were presented to the band. The "Excellent Musical Performance" trophy went to the concert band and the "Superior Musical Performance" and "Outstanding Musical Performance" trophies were given to the jazz band.

Three "Outstanding Solo" awards were given to Darren Enns and Lora Andrews for their performance in the jazz band, and to Kelsey Unruh for her solo with the concert band.

Walker was pleased with the results from the music festival, especially since the event was a little tougher than what the band was used to.

"The judging was harder, the competition was harder-everything was harder!" said Walker.

Having fun

Saturday was full of fun for the HHS band. The group's second day on the trip began at Six Flags Over Texas. Students were given the majority of the day to spend at the amusement park, where they could ride the various rides or just relax.

Many students enjoyed the various roller coasters, such as the Titan, Texas Giant and Batman.

"It was awesome!" sophomore Alex Nuss said. He added that it would have been better without all the people.

Logan Geis, sophomore, said, "I gave it two thumbs up!"

"We waited in line for one-and-a-half hours," said Enns.

Later that day, the HHS band was treated to dinner at Dallas's Hard Rock Café. The group loved the food, but they enjoyed every other aspect of the restaurant as well.

"The whole environment of the whole place was perfect," said Nuss.

While the band was taking a group picture on the restaurant's stairway, The YMCA started playing, and-needless to say-the group began doing the motions.

"I liked dancing on the stairs," said Woelk. "Making the ketchup explode all over half of David's shirt (was fun, too)."

David Vogel, freshman, was not available to interview.

The band's day ended with going to a nearby shopping mall, where they spent a couple hours shopping before seeing a movie.

Returning home

The band began its journey home from Texas Sunday morning. The trip had been a huge success, and all the members of the band agree that it was worth going on.

"Food food, good times, good friends," said Roble.

Since this trip went so well, Walker is already looking forward to a future trip. Monday morning during class, he congratulated his students on their success.

"You've laid the groundwork for future band trips," he said.

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The HHS Band would like to thank everyone who helped make this trip possible with their support. Among them are the USD 410 school district, the HHS Band Booster Club, local Lion's Clubs, HHS Principal Dale Honeck, HHS Superintendent Gordon Mohn, Bob Sextro and the numerous supportive parents and community members.