Santa Maria High School band director heads to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Samantha Bunten a band director at Santa Maria High is headed to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

She's representing the Central Coast alongside 400 music teachers from across the country. Bunten will be in a marching band with other music educators on national television.

The marching band theme is “We Teach Music, We Teach Life.” Bunten is proud to be representing the Santa Maria Valley. "It's really exciting. I know a lot of my students are really excited and sending me off before I head across the country."

Bunten said she looks forward to the parade. "Getting to experience it with my partner as well as a lot of the other band directors, but also just being on a big platform, being able to break the stereotype of when people think sousaphone player, they think some big burly man. So being able to kind of break that stereotype of being a small, petite woman while doing this big parade on the national stage is really exciting."

She hopes to show that a love of music does not stop at a certain age and she wants all students to be inspired to pursue their passions. "I hope it inspires my students to just follow their passions, no matter what it is, and not let their age define when their passion runs out or when it sparks. You know, some of these band directors marching in the Thanksgiving Day parade are over 80, and some of them are fresh out of college and their first job."