Greendale Marching Band marches into national spotlight

GREENDALE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- High School football is back and that means local marching bands are in the spotlight too. One of the best bands in the state has a big goal this season. They're heading to California to perform at one of the nation's biggest events. 

More than 200 passionate Greendale High School students take the field and come together as one each week. The marching band puts in months of work to get their performance just right. With hundreds of people in the stands during the football game, some come simply to enjoy the marching band during halftime.

“It's definitely a great feeling,” Drum Major Libby Anderson said. “We work really hard.”

On a Friday night, the crowd will see varsity football player Mason Hanizeski scoring touchdowns during the game before he takes off his pads, grabs his guitar, and joins the marching band during halftime.

“Marching band, and it's not like this in a lot of places, I don't think, but marching band here it's a cool thing to do,” Director of Band at Greendale High School Tom Reifenberg said.

But, every week the band isn’t just getting ready for another halftime show, they are preparing for one of the nation’s biggest events, the 2020 Rose Bowl Parade.

“There are thousands of high schools across the country and only a select few get to do something on this scale, marching in front of not only that many people in California, but that many people watching around the world on New Year’s morning,” Reifenberg said.

In the national spotlight, a hometown band that not only plays well but plays with a lot of heart.

“It's a really great community to be a part of at the school,” Hanizeski said. “It really is a family.”

 If you would like to help the students get to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, you can donate here.