Submitted by San Juan Island School District

Last spring, the Friday Harbor High School Band was selected to participate in the University of Washington’s 66th annual Band Day event. Nine FHHS band members — seniors Julian Brown and Lucy Urbach, juniors Jack Knapik, Jonah Strasbourger, and Sander Van Hamersfeld, and sophomores Emily Atwell, Blaze Borgquist, Olivia Brown, and Lizzie Lee — joined other Washington high school bands to play at Husky Stadium in Seattle on Saturday, Sept. 15. While the Huskies took on the Arizona State Sun Devils, over 2,000 high school musicians took the field at halftime to perform in front of 70,000 spectators.

On the setlist was a patriotic song, two pop songs and an arrangement from “The Greatest Showman.”

“I am proud of these band students who took the time, and had the courage, the passion and the drive to perform in front of the huge crowds at the Husky game,” said FHHS Band Instructor Cart Nelsen. “Experiences like this one opens our students to what is possible musically off of the island.”

Nelsen would also like to thank parent Jill Urbach for chaperoning this event.