WJCC Senior Becomes Second Inducted Into All-American Band

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, October 28, 2010

Jamestown High senior Alexandria Foster poses with Brigadier General Bryan Roberts, who inducted her into the Army All-American Band.

Foster, a senior at Jamestown High School, was one of 125 high school students across the nation selected to participate in the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl Marching Band.

She is the second Jamestown senior to receive this honor in two years; graduate Elliot Mee was chosen for the 2010 band. It was Mee who convinced Foster she had the musical chops to apply.

“He ruthlessly persuaded me to apply,” she said Wednesday.

The All-American Marching Band brings the best high school seniors together to perform the halftime show at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, which features the nation’s top high school football players. The bowl, in its 11th year, will be played Jan. 8, 2011 in San Antonio, Texas, and will be aired on NBC.

Foster was formally inducted into the All-American Band with a ceremony in Jamestown High’s auditorium on Wednesday afternoon. The stage was transformed into a media event, complete with a black backdrop covered with the Army logo, banners and music provided by the Army Brass Band. Brigadier General Bryan Roberts, a Hampton native who played in the band at Phoebus High School, presented Foster with her black feathered band helmet, a baseball cap and a windbreaker, as her fellow bandmates and family stood to give her a standing ovation.

In her acceptance speech, Foster thanked Mee and other classmates for their encouragement and support, prompting Roberts to praise her for her humility. Her band teacher, Steve Turner, said when she walks in a room, everyone lights up.

Foster started playing the mellophone only two years ago, when she discovered the marching band didn’t use the French horn – her chosen instrument since sixth grade. She estimates she practices at least 20 minutes every day, and has already started rehearsing for her national TV appearance at the All-American Bowl. The producers of the show sent her sheet music last week, along with a video game similar to Dance Dance Revolution to teach her the steps for the half-time show, so she’s been rehearsing by herself.

She was studying at a Spanish immersion program at Virginia Commonwealth University in July when she found out she was selected to participate in the band. Students weren’t allowed to have any outside communication other than letters, so she had no idea whether she’d been chosen or not. Finally, her father emailed her a copy of her acceptance e-mail and she started jumping around her room and screaming in Spanish.

She’s most excited to play alongside other seniors who are as passionate about music as she is. “It’s such a plus!” she said, grinning.