Pam De Boer
Pam De Boer, band director at Evans Middle School, will join band directors from across the country January 1 in the annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses® Rose Parade.
De Boer has not marched as a performer since high school. She is excited to be part of a marching band made up of peers from every state as they march the 5.5 mile parade route in California on January 1. She will be playing the French horn.
She applied to participate last year and was selected. She must memorize four arrangements and will have limited time to rehearse in Pasadena prior to the parade. Performers will be provided a "uniform" consisting of a navy jacket, white shirt, gray pants, and a red tie.
A custom-designed animated float will lead the 300-member marching band. The Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation, based in Pickerington, Ohio, is the sponsoring organization behind the project. The foundation was created to recognize and carry on the work of the late Mike Sewell, who dedicated his life to the school and community music programs in Pickerington and the Central Ohio area for more than 38 years.
The parade entry will convey the theme, “We teach music. We teach life.” The extraordinary dedication and accomplishments of band directors are well known to their students, to parents, and to school teachers and administrators. No matter where they teach and work—public and private schools, colleges and universities, the military, community bands—dedicated music educators and leaders work long hours to not only teach and direct music, but to teach life itself. Students’ lives in particular are positively changed by a motivational leader who taught, inspired and mentored them.
De Boer has been teaching over 35 years in Iowa, Minnesota, and Canada with the past 20 in the Ottumwa Community School District. She has worked with students in band, choir, jazz band, show choir, color guard, and drama.
Complete details on the project are available on the Saluting America’s Band Directors website at BandDirectorSalute.org.