TOPSAIL, N.C. (WECT) – The Topsail High School Marching Pirates are headed to London, England.<\/p>\n
The marching band has been invited to perform in the 42nd Annual London New Year\u2019s Day Parade on Jan. 1, 2028, a rare chance to represent Pender County Schools on an international stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are incredibly honored and excited for our students to receive this invitation,\u201d said Jake Wentzek, director of bands at Topsail High School. \u201cTo be selected for an event of this magnitude reflects the hard work, dedication, and pride our students bring to this program every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wentzek said the band was nominated without members\u2019 knowledge.<\/p>\n
Started in 1987, the London New Year\u2019s Day Parade features thousands of performers, including marching bands, dancers, cultural groups, floats, and entertainers, and runs through central London.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an extraordinary honor for Topsail High School,\u201d said Dr. Michael Sasscer, principal of Topsail High School. \u201cBeing invited to perform in London is a testament to our students, Mr. Wentzek\u2019s leadership, and the families and supporters who make this program so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Topsail Music Boosters are helping support the trip financially. Pender County Schools Superintendent Dr. Brad Breedlove said the band will represent both the district and North Carolina during the parade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly the kind of opportunity that shows the power of public education and the arts,\u201d Breedlove said.<\/p>\n
The school will share information about fundraising efforts and travel plans as the band prepares for the performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOPSAIL, N.C. (WECT) – The Topsail High School Marching Pirates are headed to London, England. The marching band…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":989472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[274911,4021,274912,115050,748,393,4884,522,257,48279,173342,43390,269,6096,194845,12,2632,274915,274914,274910,274913,16,15,122187],"class_list":["post-989471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-42nd-annual-london-new-years-day-parade","tag-arts","tag-ball-drop","tag-band","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-international","tag-london","tag-london-england","tag-london-new-years-day-parade","tag-marching-band","tag-music","tag-national","tag-new-years","tag-news","tag-north-carolina","tag-north-carolina-marching-band","tag-pender-county-schools","tag-topsail-high-school","tag-topsail-high-school-marching-band","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wect"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116650381535608569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=989471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/989472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=989471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=989471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=989471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}