On Tuesday night, the Hillside High School Marching Band was doing what they do best: making noise together. Except this time, they traded their trumpets for roller skates and their bass drums for bouts of laughter.
Students, families and supporters filled Wheels Durham, a roller skating rink on Hoover Road, as part of the marching band’s fundraiser. They are working toward a goal that stretches far beyond the walls of Hillside High School. The band received the unique chance to perform in New Orleans for the Allstate Sugar Bowl New Year’s Parade. But the band needs to raise money to make that dream a reality.
Hillside’s band director, Patrick Jones II, said the band hopes to raise $125,000, as the expected attendance cost is around $1,500 per student.. The school is about one fourth of the way to its goal, and will need the community’s support to reach the finish line.
“We want to make sure that we extend this opportunity to as many as possible,” Jones said.
For many students, this would be their first time performing outside of North Carolina, and for some, their first time leaving the state. The Sugar Bowl Parade isn’t just a performance, though. It’s the culmination of years of work and a chance for students to experience something they’ve never experienced before – together.
“To me it’s a really big opportunity, especially to be so young,” said Hillside junior and Head Drum Major Kwame Hester. “It feels surreal.”
Hester, who has spent three years in the marching band, said the band’s previous trips have stayed relatively close to home. The farthest they have traveled is Warren County, roughly 60 miles from Durham.
“It’s New Orleans,” Hester said. “It’s a really big experience.”
This feeling is shared throughout the band, as other members shared similar excitement and elation. Senior Cymbal and Drum Line Captain, Richard Pearson IV, noted this trip would carry an even deeper meaning.
“Well this is my senior year, so going out with a bang, knowing that I been with my band, my family… would mean a lot to me,” Pearson said.
In talking with students, parents and faculty of Hillside, the word “family” came up time and time again.
“We see each other every day,” Pearson said. “We take long bus rides together. We got each other’s back, it’s like one big family.”
The band has also drawn support beyond its current students and their family members. Lavonte Leak, who has been a teacher at Hillside for 10 years, attended the fundraiser. He currently advises a fraternity of young men, Theta Phi Si, a group focused on leadership, academics and community service. Some of its members are also in the marching band.
“Just giving back to Hillside has always been important to me,” Leak said. “I love to see kids doing positive things. Of course I will come and help out, and support them.”
The band’s closeness comes from years of commitment. Senior euphonium, trombone and tuba player, Aumaurie Bobbitt, was eager to share his passion for music with The 9th Street Journal and his plans to pursue aspects of music in his future. He said marching band occupies much of his life, describing how a typical week consists of daily practices for two or three hours in the afternoons, football games on Fridays, competitions on Saturdays and parades on Sundays. For Bobbitt, this work has made the Sugar Bowl Parade invitation especially meaningful.
“It means a lot,” Bobbit said. “It really means, like, we put in a lot of dedication and a lot of hard work for things like this to come.”
For Jones, who is in his second year as Hillside’s band director, this trip feels deeply personal. He performed at the Sugar Bowl Parade himself as a ninth grader.
“To be on the flip side of that as a director now is something that is very surreal and kind of a full circle moment for me,” he said.
New Orleans is only the beginning of what Jones hopes to build for the future of Hillside. One day, he wants the band to apply for and perform in the Tournament of Roses Parade in California.
“As a whole, man, I want to be a good steward of this program,” Jones said. “I just want to make sure that I’m doing my job to ensure that we continue to honor the legacy that came before us.”
Hillside is among the oldest historically Black high schools in North Carolina, thus Jones sees his role as part of a much larger story. For now, that legacy is moving toward New Orleans, with the help of the community.
“Hillside band, specifically, has a history of changing lives for the better,” Leak said. “I will always forever be a supporter of that.”
Photo at top: Supporters of Hillside’s marching band skate at Wheels Durham. Photo by Ayanna Owens – The 9th Street Journal
Quinn Wherley
