Oakleaf High School sophomore Brendan Bowens, 15, will perform with the Macy’s Great American Marching Band in the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 26.<\/p>\n
“I was excited because, you know, it’s huge,” Bowens said.<\/p>\n
The clarinet player performs with Oakleaf High School’s Golden Regiment Marching Band and Wind Ensemble under band director Kayla Lemak.<\/p>\n
He was selected after submitting a performance video featuring marching, a scale, and “Nocturne,” a piece he previously performed for solo ensemble.<\/p>\n
Bowens, who also studies at the Lakeside School of Music, said the opportunity reflects years of determination and musical growth.<\/p>\n
“A lot of determination, definitely. Pushing through it when I went to quit,” Bowens said.<\/p>\n
His accomplishments include third place at the 2025 Clay County Concert on the Green, the Quincy Jones Award for contribution and creativity in music, and three consecutive selections as a Clay County All-County clarinetist in 2024, 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n
Outside music, Bowens maintains a 3.5 GPA, takes honors classes, and hopes to become the first person in his family to earn a college degree. He plans to study chemical engineering.<\/p>\n
As he prepares for New York, Bowens said his focus is on enjoying the experience.<\/p>\n
“Just breathe. Take your time, just have fun, basically,” Bowens said.<\/p>\n
His family, friends, school and community have supported him throughout the process. Bowens and his family are seeking donations and local corporate sponsorships to help cover travel, lodging, uniform costs and performance materials.<\/p>\n
A GoFundMe campaign has been established, and businesses interested in sponsorship opportunities can contact his mother, Fannie Alford Bowens.<\/p>\n
“I’m just very grateful,” Bowens said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakleaf High School sophomore Brendan Bowens, 15, will perform with the Macy’s Great American Marching Band in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[133152,133154,9,11,10,133151,133153],"class_list":["post-357244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-brendan-bowens","tag-lakeside-school-of-music","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-oakleaf-high-school","tag-wind-ensemble"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}