It took a lot of hard work over the last year, but the Pana High School Band got to enjoy the trip of a lifetime over the Fourth of July. The band performed in the Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.

Theresa Steiner is the band director at Pana High School. She says her goal was to make sure all of her students were able to go on the trip.

Steiner says it was a surreal experience for the band to perform in a place like the nation’s capital.

Steiner says the trip would not have been possible if it weren’t the community rallying around the students to make the trip happen.