Athens Drive band excited to return to Washington for Memorial Day parade after 3-year wait

The Athens Drive High School band will be returning to the nation's capital to honor U.S. veterans with exhilarating music at the Memorial Day Parade.

The band might look a little different than in years past, but the heart they bring is all the same.

The COVID-19 pandemic tried to silence the sound of music at places like Athens Drive High School. In fact - band director Jerry Makoch says it crushed the hopes of many students.

"It decimated the attendance because kids just dropped out," said Markoch. "We were marching 165 students here at Athens and now we're about 90.

After a 3-year gap, the band was invited back to the Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C. and they are more than ready.

"We still have that same spirit that we had before the pandemic and we can't wait to represent our school and the state of North Carolina in this parade," said band member Emily Schmidt.

It lifts my heart," said Markoch. "Even if I wasn't a musician, but the fact that I'm a band director-musician, this is who we are! This is what we do as bands."

This is Markoch's 29th year teaching band students at the school and most of those years, they performed at big events across the country.

None have been bigger for senior Austin Hampton than their next gig in our nation's capital.

"Because my grandfather served in the Army and getting to play, having the honor of playing for people that have served," said Hampton. "I can think of my grandfather while I'm playing."

At many schools across the country, the music died. But for this band, there was always hope.

"Everybody believed it will come back and it's because music is a great thing," said Markoch. "The kids will come back to something that's great."

Markoch says the reward is being music ambassadors for their home state.

"They don't say our school name. They say North Carolina, Raleigh, which is really the thing that pulls my heart every time I march," Markoch said. "I'm like I can't wait to do this again with these kids. I think it's so uplifting."

The Athens Drive band members will be in D.C. for three days and two nights with free time to check out all the sights and museums.