PERRY HALL, MD—Many folks spent Thanksgiving 2022 eating big meals with family and then watching football games and holiday movies. Clarinetist Sophie Risley, a Grade 12 student at Perry Hall High School, spent hers marching through the streets of New York as part of the Macy’s Great American Marching Band in the 96th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Sophie’s journey to New York began on Thanksgiving 2021 when she was watched the parade on television. “During the parade, there was an ad to audition to be a part of it,” Sophie explains. “I had to record a solo and send them a video of me marching to apply.”

On her birthday, March 31 – just one day after she submitted her application, Sophie received confirmation that she was in the 200-member band of high school students from across the nation.

Read the full story on the BCPS blog here