West Boca High School band students are about to have the trip of their life!

West Boca has accepted their invitation to play in Rome, Italy at the 2024 New Year’s celebration/parade in front of a quarter of a million people.

In addition to performing at the celebration, students will explore Rome for an entire week, eating a lot of unique food and learning the history of Rome while site-seeing.

The ceremony marking this amazing invitation took place at West Boca’s theater at 9 AM on Monday morning. Along with West Boca band director Mr. Shane and Principal Mr. Capitano, some honored guests were in attendance:

• District 5 representative – Frank Barbieri
• District 3 representative – Karen Brill
• Regional Superintendent of the South Region – Peter Licata
• Member of the Florida State Senate – Tina Polsky
• Member of the Florida House of Representatives- Kelly Skidmore
• Boca Raton Mayor – Scott Singer
• City Council Member and CRA Chair – Monica Mayotte
• City Council Member – Yvette Drucker

West Boca’s band, who went overseas for the London New Year’s Day parade in 2016 and 2020, is ecstatic about going to Rome in January of 2024.

The executive director and founder of the Rome and London New Year’s Day parades, Robert Bone, spoke to all in attendance. Bone made it clear that it will be the trip of a lifetime for West Boca Students, whether it is the food in Rome, the tourist attractions they will see, and especially the experience of the parade.

West Boca will be one of just 10 bands from the entire United States to attend the parade in Rome.

After the amazing ceremony, West Boca’s culinary students provided everyone (including the band students) with an amazing variety of food.

Check out some more pictures from the incredible event: