On Aug. 10-11, six Tippecanoe Valley band students performed with the INpact Indiana’s Future-Band. The massed group of more than 250 Indiana seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade musicians kicked off the Celebrate Indy Arts Parade with a performance of “America the Beautiful” in downtown Indianapolis.

That evening, the INpact Band opened the Drum Corps International World Finals at Lucas Oil Stadium with a performance of, “Live for Music,” with Shaun Canon of American Idol fame.

Bryston Canada, Angelica Heeter, Amanda Heltzel, Rob Morehouse, Damien Pelo and Matt Pelo were selected for this honor based on band director recommendation and instrumentation needs of INpact. In addition to performing for audiences numbering in the thousands, they attended master classes and concerts by professional musicians like the West Point Hellcats and participated in music leadership training.