Press release:

The Global Connections High School Wind Ensemble has been invited to participate in the 2013 Presidential Inauguration Music Festival in Washington D.C. and attend the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony.

Global Connections is located on the Tyee campus in SeaTac.

The Global Connections band is one of only four in the country invited to participate with no audition, by recommendation of a national adjudicator.

“Some of our students have never been out of this community. This is an opportunity they never imagined possible,” said Principal Rick Harwood. “Many are children of immigrants who came to America for a better life. To be able to participate in one of the most significant events in American society is huge.”

Nearly eight out of ten Global Connections students live in poverty. The 37 students in the wind ensemble must raise $60,000 in order to make the trip.

If they can raise the money, students will perform in the Presidential Inauguration Music Festival and one other venue hosting an inaugural event; witness the Oath of Office and presidential address in the National Mall; tour the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Arlington National Cemetery, and the M.L. King Memorial; visit Smithsonian Museums; attend a performance at the Kennedy Center; and go to the Inauguration Social Celebration.

Community members can help students reach their fundraising goal:

Make a tax-deductible donation online.
Make a tax-deductible donation by check, marked GCHS Band to:
Highline Schools Foundation
15675 Ambaum Blvd. SW
Burien, WA 98166

Purchase a ticket to:
A Night of Friends and Jazz
Sunday, October 28, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Cedarbrook Lodge
With Afro-Cuban jazz by Sonando
Farm-to-table hors d’oeuvres, wine, and cocktails
Tickets are $100, available at www.GCHS.brownpapertickets.com