PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — A local active duty service member or veteran nominated the Camden County High School band and chorus to perform in the Pearl Harbor memorial parade in Hawaii.
According to school's fine arts director, Dean Slusser, their 95 students and 27 adults are among a little more than 90 other groups participating in the parade. Those groups include other high schools and music groups from across the country.
Slusser said several of their students have great-grandparents who were stationed at Pearl Harbor.
“Students are not just connecting with history from their history classes," Slusser said. "They're connecting with history from their families, and that's very important to a lot of them."
Other students have parents in the Navy, head band director Sonya Williams, said.
“I think especially since we have Navy kids whose parents regularly, you know, leave on a sub for six months, I think especially tomorrow and also seeing the veterans they really understand the sacrifice that these veterans have made for our country," Williams said.
On Wednesday, the group is touring Pearl Harbor.
The ceremony starts at 9 p.m. EST, which is 4 p.m. in Hawaii. The parade starts at 11 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. in Hawaii. You can watch live here.
“To be able to experience it and see these people [veterans], it's priceless," choral director Lashan Wolfe said. "It's fleeting. It's an opportunity that few are going to have as the years keep moving on."
The group ran into some veterans in their hotel Monday night, Slusser said, and sang for them. He said some of the students got emotional being able to perform for the veterans.
"This is my thirty-eighth year of teaching, and I think it's one of the highest honors that students I've worked with have received," Slusser said.
