Newport, N. Providence teachers marching in Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. How they got there

Little Rhody will have at least two representatives marching in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year as a pair of the state’s music teachers are set to march alongside other band directors from across the country.

“I’ve never been to the Macy’s parade, and it's something I’ve always watched on TV. Especially as a little band kid, you’re like ‘I want to do that someday,'” Samantha Hackenson said. “I think being a part of something so huge – I think that’s part of why we do music in the first place, is to be like a puzzle piece in something that’s bigger than ourselves, so I think this is a really great way to feel that.”

Hackenson, a music teacher for North Providence Public Schools, and Scott Travers, a music director at St. Michael’s Country Day School in Newport, will be marching in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year as part of an over 400-musician battalion dubbed “The Band Directors Marching Band.” The group, part of the “Saluting America’s Band Directors” project designed to honor music teachers throughout the country, had its inaugural performance at the 2022 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, of which Travers was a participant.

“I’m happy to be doing it, representing this small, little state everywhere,” Travers said.

Travers will play the piccolo and Hackenson the clarinet as they march down the 2½-mile route through New York City, but this is not the first time the two have performed together.

They've been friends since their days at the University of Rhode Island and continue performing together as a part of The American Band, a 50-person symphonic concert band that is one of the oldest continuously active bands in the nation. They also participate in an annual performance as a part of URI’s alumni band. Nevertheless, Travers and Hackenson said they've been practicing more to prepare for the parade.

“Now that we’re not in music school anymore, we don’t play nearly as often as we used to,” Hackenson said. “[I’m also] just staying active, and making sure the 2½ miles isn’t cumbersome.”

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Travers teaches music to students in first through eighth grades, while Hackenson teaches in grades six through eight. When they told their students they would be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, they said the kids were most interested in when they would be featured on television so they could tune in and see their teachers. The band is marching near the front of the pack, near the balloon of Snoopy, Travers said.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Macy's Thanksgiving Parade includes Newport, North Providence teachers