Four Crescenta Valley High School students and one alumni participated in the Tournament of Roses Honor Band and another alumni played herald trumpet before the Rose Parade queen and court in the world-famous Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.

CVHS seniors Kelly Moore and Chris Sandoval played the flute and quad drums, respectively. Grant Hilburn, junior, played cymbals, which also had him marching much of the five-and-a-half mile parade backwards as the cymbals also create the high hats for the snare drummers. One of those snare drummers was center snare Jacob Jones, a CV alumni and student at Pasadena City College. The PCC Lancers Marching Band is the core of the Tournament of Roses Honor Band and high school music students from CVHS and other high schools throughout the Los Angeles, especially in the San Gabriel Valley, audition to join. Passing that audition as a freshman to join the band was Hannah Roth on flute. CV alumni Justin Abril was one of the herald trumpeters.

Students Moore, Sandoval, Hilburn, and Roth were recognized in a short ceremony during the Glendale Unified School District board meeting on Tuesday.

This was the first year of participation for Moore, Sandoval, and Roth; the third for Hilburn; and the fourth and last for alumni Jones, both as a CVHS and PCC student.

Several Sundays and hundreds of practice hours goes into prepping for the Rose Parade. The band also marched down Main Street in Disneyland on Wednesday, Dec. 27 and performed on the field at Band Fest, an event hosted at Pasadena City College’s Robinson Stadium, which highlights every band participating in the Rose Parade, on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30.