OBSERVER Photo by Amanda Dedie Emily Merrill, Forestville Central School District band president, presented to the school board about the band’s music trip to Washington D.C. in April.

FORESTVILLE — Emily Merrill, Forestville Central School District band president, was more than happy to present to the board about the band’s music trip to Washington D.C. in April, where the band was given several awards, and the students had experiences they will not soon forget.

On April 27, the Forestville band students departed from the area and arrived in Washington D.C. at around 4 p.m., where they almost immediately picked up their tour guide, who showed the group around the Capital Building. They also got to visit the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, as well as the Korean War Veterans Memorial which was, according to Merrill, “pretty cool to see.”

The next day, the ground went to downtown Washington D.C., where they visited Arlington National Cemetery and got to witness the changing of the color guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which Merrill said was “honestly the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my whole entire life. That was amazing.”

After Arlington they traveled to Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, where they got to sit in on a rehearsal of the US Army Jazz Band — Merrill even got to take a picture with the lead alto sax player.

Thanks to the uncle of one of the band members, who is a two-star general in charge of all military police, criminal investigations and prisons, the group also got to tour the Pentagon, seeing the offices of Secretary of the Army, all of the hallways dedicated to different military actions, and the 9/11 Ground Zero memorial.

The big and most anticipated day, though, was Saturday, when the band got to perform with their respective groups.

The first stop was John Champ High School for the choral competition, before heading over to Rock Ridge High School, where the instrumental concert took place and concert band, marching band, and jazz band all performed.

“As a group I felt those performances we gave were the best performances we had given all year long,” Merrill said. “Everyone was ready to show what we had worked so hard on.”

After the competitions, the students went back to their hotel rooms to freshen up and prepare for the awards ceremony that would take place later that night.

Eleven different schools form across the country were being honored — most of which were 10 times Forestville’s size.

For the choral awards, Forestville brought home a bronze rating for the Women’s Chorus, and a silver rating for the Mixed Chorus.

The instrumental awards were a huge deal to the band students, for a few reasons:

“A couple of weeks before we left for the trip, Mr. Geblein met with myself and the rest of the band officers and explained to us how there were no groups competing in our class, which was Class A, and he asked if we thought we should move up to Class AAA to compete, which is a school that has 1,201 kids or more enrolled in grades 9-12, and we immediately said, ‘Let’s go for it — what do we have to lose?”

The band agreed to take the challenge, which meant that they’d have to receive a score of 90 or higher to receive a gold rating, versus 85 or above for the other classes.

Merrill was proud to announce, “Our 2017 high school concert band got gold rating in concert band, marching band and jazz ensemble. We couldn’t believe it. We were so excited to be representing our school and music program in that sort of way.”

The band also received an invite to next year’s Festival of Gold in Washington, D.C. because their ratings were so high. This is the first time the Forestville band had ever received that honor.

The marching band also won an award for “Best Drum Major,” which Geblein had apparently told Merrill they were a shoo-in for.

“When they announced that the other school had won best guard, best music, and best visual impact … I knew my hard work paid off, and I got to go up and represent our school winning the best drum major award,” Merrill said.

There was also a chance to be a Maestro Award Winner, where 10 individuals out of the entire festival would be recognized for outstanding solo performances in their ensembles.

Two Forestville students, out of ten who were recognized, received those awards.

Merrill was honored for her alto sax solo in jazz ensemble. Another band member, Josh Bellis, was honored for his solo in mixed choir.

“This was a trip I will always remember — not only because of our successes, but also because I got to spend time with my best friends and with Mr. Geblein, doing what I love,” Merrill said. “One day, I hope to have successful, well-rounded students like Mr. Geblein has created, and I hope to impact someone’s life just as greatly as he has impacted mine.”

The board applauded Merrill’s presentation, and school board president Carol Woodward jokingly added, “If this keeps up, we’re going to have to put an addition on the band room for all of the awards!”