Three South Dakota students will represent the state in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Next week three South Dakota students will be heading to New York City for a once in a lifetime event; they'll be performing in the Macy's Great American Marching Band during the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.

From the band room to broadway, three members of the Brookings Bobcat Band will join 250 other students from across the country to perform.

"I am pretty excited," Patrick Powers, a senior, said. "You get to meet new people, learn a lot of different things from different people from around the country. It's going to be really cool."

"I'm excited and nervous," Dylan Herrig, a senior, said. "And I've never been this excited for a trip for a while."

The last time Brookings High School was represented in what is called "one of the world's largest parades" was back in the early 2000s. And now, all thanks to an e-mail from band director Ronald Stary, their dreams are taking flight.

"I was mostly surprised at first like everyone else was excited, and I was just kind of getting over the shock of like I received this e-mail that says I'm now a part of the Macy's Day Parade," Abigayle Davis, a junior, said.

"I think the number of people that's going to be there is the most nerve-racking thing because the biggest crowd we've ever done is a little over a thousand or probably more," Powers said. "So, it's a pretty big jump from thousand to over 100 million people."

Besides being slightly nervous, the students are thankful to represent the community on a national stage.

"It's really great because a lot of people don't know about little Brookings, South Dakota," Davis said. "It's kind of a quiet town, and now much goes on here. So, having three people come from the same town and school is really big."

"I'm super excited, and it's amazing how much support we've gotten from the community and just everywhere," Herrig said.

The three students are still raising money for their trip and the band booster program. You can find a link to their page

.