Hi-Line Living: The trip of a lifetime

"From the first note, they were great," Havre high Band Director David Johnke said.

It's not every year that a school from Havre represents Montana in the country's capital. And until July 4, 2016, a Havre band has never marched on Constitution Avenue on Independence Day. Johnke said all the laborious preparation paid off, because the students played great from the beginning of their performance.

It's that same hard work that earned the students the experience of a lifetime.

The Havre High School halls were echoing with shouts of "Kenny Loggins, Kenny Loggins!" They had just returned home from their trip and were putting their instruments away so they could go home and rest.

The Grammy award winning American singer-songwriter and guitarist became an inside joke for the students on their travels. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing Loggins perform, many agreed.

For percussion player Brandon Bergren, who was wearing a newly bought purple "Washington D.C." hoodie, the city's diversity and the memorials left a lasting impression.

Brandon said that even though there were so many different people, it seemed to him they all felt a connection to the memorials.

The Korean War memorial had a "big wall of faces" he said he will probably never forget.

Sharon Dolph was one of the chaperones, along with her husband, Jim. Their son John played percussion.

Sharon said the trip was "fast track all the way," that the tour leaders "ran a tight ship" and there was no down time.

"It was amazing," she said of the trip.

That word was also bounced around a lot.

For Sharon, aside from the parade, "of course," the best part of the trip was photo documenting everything.

"The lines were perfect, they were tight musically," she said. "They did amazing."

For sousaphone player Thomas Keith, the trip might have given him vocational direction. Thomas said he plans on attending Montana State University-Northern.

He said there was a "creepy but cool" protester near the White House, with whom he took a selfie. The protester was protesting nuclear weapons.

"I saw a lot of angry people there... this guys wasn't angry," Thomas said.

Thomas said the protester triggered thoughts of some of the things he had learned in school, particularly history. Then the war memorials helped him solidify the realization that he enjoyed history. The World War II, Korea and Vietnam memorials effortlessly brought back the history lessons during his time at Havre High, particularly in Scott Filius' classes.

But it was the Arlington National Cemetery that hit Thomas hardest.

"It blew my mind seeing how many gravestones there were. There's gravestones everywhere -- these are dead people," he said.

Thomas said he has a difficult time remembering equations, but he remembers stories.

"This trip might've steered me into teaching history," he said.