Winter jackets? Check.
Cameras? Check.
Trombones? Check.
Members of the Hialeah Middle School symphonic and jazz bands are gearing up for a trip they'll never forget: Next week, they'll travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in a student music festival.
As part of the trip, the 35 teens will be on the National Mall during next week's historic inauguration of Barack Obama.
''It's so exciting,'' said Yesenia Zamora, 14, an eighth-grader who plays the flute and bass guitar. ``We'll be able to tell our grandkids that we were there.''
The Hialeah teens aren't the only South Florida students who will be at the nation's capital for the swearing-in of Obama. Members of the J.P. Taravella High School Marching Band from Coral Springs will play in the inauguration parade.
A group of students from Coral Springs Middle will also travel to Washington, D.C., as will small groups from the Young Women's Preparatory Academy, Miami Senior High and the School for Advanced Studies.
Additionally, a group of students from John A. Ferguson Senior High School will make the trip. Teacher David Marshall said he got inauguration tickets for his students through Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
When the Hialeah students board the bus Friday, it will be the culmination of months spent fundraising and rehearsing.
Read the complete story at miamiherald.com