By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
jonathan@wdnweb.com
Staff Writer
Three graduates of Washington High School will play their respective musical instruments today in the 122nd Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif.
All three WHS graduates are students at North Carolina Central University in Durham.
The trio will perform as part of the university’s Marching Sound Machine Band.
Cameron Tripp is a senior and a music industry major at NCCU, according to his father, Sterling Tripp. The younger Tripp plays trumpet.
Lakeisha Battle is a junior and a psychology major who plays saxophone.
Charles Willoughby is a senior and a criminal justice major who plays trombone.
Cameron Tripp was reached by cell phone Thursday on the band bus as it made its way to Pasadena.
A 2006 WHS graduate, Tripp said has been playing trumpet for about 12 years.
He hopes to teach music and become a band director after graduation.
He confirmed that playing in the Rose Parade is a signal honor.
“You’ll never forget this type of stuff,” he said.
The roughly 200-member Marching Sound Machine has been rehearsing its parade songs — one by Usher, a couple by Michael Jackson — for months, according to Tripp.
“I don’t even know the exact amount of time,” he said.
Sterling Tripp is an NCCU alumnus and president of the school’s Beaufort County Alumni Chapter.
“We are extremely happy with not just Cameron but all the students,” he said of his son and his cohorts. “They’ve done an outstanding job, and it’s good that they’re getting recognized now.”
The band also has played at (New York) Giants Stadium and in a battle of the bands in the Georgia Dome, the father said.
Another of Tripp’s sons, Chase Tripp, is a former WHS football player who also attends N.C. Central.
Tripp made it clear that he and his wife, Linda, are proud of their children’s accomplishments.
Cameron started playing trumpet in the fifth or sixth grade, the father related.
“He just started with the trumpet and has been going ever since,” he said.
Tripp added that one of his son’s early influences was Ken Polk, former band director at WHS.
Cameron Tripp’s two former WHS classmates were on a different band bus and unavailable for comment Thursday.
The Rose Parade will start at 8 a.m. Pacific Standard Time today.
According to the parade’s website, the event will air on ABC, NBC, HGTV, Hallmark Channel and other channels.