Eight years ago, senior Erika Borslien picked up a clarinet for the first time. Today she practices up to two hours every day on a temperamental clarinet from the 1920’s. The extra time has resulted in an invitation for Borslien to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Harold Square.
After All-State Borslien received a letter asking her to audition for the parade, but both Borslien and band teacher Sue Jordahl were skeptical.
“In my own mind, if I encourage them to try out for that and encourage them to try out for that, how much rejection can they take?” Jordahl said. “Now I’m thinking, ‘Holy cow! I’ve got to encourage more kids to do that’ because you really can get in. It’s attainable.”
Borslien merely shoved the letter aside and forgot about it until her mother, Rose Borslien, convinced her to fill out the application.
“She made me fill out the form and she helped me with my list of merits of all of the groups I had been in and then I sent it in,” Erika said. “A month later I got an envelope from them. I opened it and it said I had gotten in based on merits alone and I didn’t have to audition.”
In Erika’s band, there will be at least one member from each state in the United States all of which will need to have two pieces of music memorized by the time they arrive in New York City in order to spend all of their rehearsal time learning the marches and routines.
Although Erika’s family is not able to see the band perform live, they are not upset considering that they were told the crowds arrive at five in the morning or midnight the previous night and he route is surrounded by a mass 8-12 people deep.
“We would have liked to have gone to the parade, but they had suggested that we stay home to watch it,” Rose said. “They said if you went to the parade you would have to get there early and sit and we thought it would be more comfortable to watch the parade at our house.”
Once Jordahl heard the news that Erika had been accepted, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate the entirety of the news until the band is performing.
“It’s until we see that band in that parade on that day that it’s real,” Jordahl said. “I think a lot of our pride isn’t even there yet because we haven’t seen her with that uniform in that situation.”
Aside from Erika’s fans, Erika herself has a tough time believing that she has been accepted.
“I’m still wrapping my head around it, it doesn’t feel real yet,” Erika said. “What I am most looking forward to is probably the experience itself. It’s a once in a lifetime experience. It’s not something that everyone gets to experience.”