Emerson Smiley will be a part of the Macy’s Great American Marching Band with members from all 50 states.<\/p>\n
OAKLEAF PLANTATION, Fla. \u2014 Emerson Smiley spends her Friday nights with the attention of the Oakleaf Marching Band as its drum major.<\/p>\n
But come Thanksgiving, she’ll have the attention of the entire nation.<\/p>\n
The high school senior was selected to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.<\/p>\n
“I’ve always wanted to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity,” said Smiley.<\/p>\n
Smiley says her favorite part of the parade has always been watching the marching bands.<\/p>\n
The one thing better than watching them? Being a part of one.<\/p>\n
“I saw Tik Toks of people that participated in the marching band, and I thought it’d be really cool to be a part of that,” said Smiley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smiley put together an application with a video of her playing the flute and asked the Director of Bands at Oakleaf High School, Chad Robbins, to nominate her.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“It is one of the reasons that I come to school, do the long hours, the Friday nights, the Saturday competitions, the band camps,” said Robbins. “When you have students that invested, it’s easy to show up and do the work, and the extra work.”<\/p>\n
Robbins says there are 200 people in the Macy’s Great American Marching Band, but Smiley has a plan for how she’ll manage to make sure her flute is heard in the middle of it all.<\/p>\n
“Confidence,” said Smiley. “It’s been hard for me to get a big sound, because I’m kind of like a reserved person, so I just learn to have confidence in it, and that helps a lot.”<\/p>\n
Smiley is used to having a lot of attention and pressure since she\u2019s also the drum major in the marching band.<\/p>\n