Two students from Escambia Academy have been selected to be a part of the Troy/Southeastern Honor Band.

Hunter Bates and Connie Colbert are just two of the approximately 13 members of the band, which has only been organized about a year and a half. For a band that has been playing together for only that short while, and one so small, it is quite a feat to have reached this level of play.

Colbert, who is a senior and plays the flute, has been playing an instrument since she was in the sixth grade, and she has been with the Escambia Academy High School Band since it’s inception. She is also the current Poarch Creek Indian princess.

“I am active in a lot of different things, but I love playing in the band,” Colbert said. “I think it may be something I want to continue when I go to college. There will be people different colleges on hand looking for potential band members. I haven’t made up my mind yet as to what college I want to go to.”

Bates is a junior and has been playing for more than five years, and his instrument is the saxophone. He, like Colbert, is not new to the instrument, and in fact has won this award once before.

“We have to fill out applications and the band director has to sign off on it before we can enter the competition,” Bates said. “After he makes the recommendation for us we still have to go to Troy and compete against a lot of other band members.”

Band director, Tony Edwards, is very proud of his students.

“We don’t have a big band, but we have a good one,” Edwards said. “There were probably 800 students to begin with and after the that number is cut down a whole lot by the time they are through. They have to perform in front of the judges. Everybody has to play an on site piece that they are not familiar with.”

The students will go to Troy on Feb. 3-5, to participate in the next phase of the program.

Edwards said he is very proud of his band members.

“It is an honor for me as a band director to be able to work with these students,” he said. “Our group may be small, but with new kids coming in next year, we will start to grow and next year the band members will be able to perform on the field. I have been here a year and the members are almost all involved with other extracurricular activities.”