SHERBURNE – Hard work and dedication for one high school saxophone player at the Sherburne-Earlville High School is paying off as she prepares to join some of the most talented high school musicians in the country.

Sherburne-Earlville sophomore Meaghan Weinell has been selected to join the ranks of only 250 students nationwide who make up the Macy’s Great American Marching Band. Come November, she’ll be marching in formation down 42nd Street in New York City to the excitement of more than 2.5 million spectators lining the streets and nearly 50 million television viewers worldwide during the 86th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

It’s an incredible honor, said the soft-spoken sophomore, “to be with other people who like to play and march as much as I do.”

“It’ll be a really good experience ... I love marching band. It’s my favorite part of the school year,” she added.

Under the encouragement of S-E band director Jeffrey Manwaring, Weinell wowed a pannel of judges with a submitted video performance of a level six solo – the most challenging arrangement of music applicable at the high school level – that beat out thousands of other applicants for a place in the parade lineup.

“He’s probably been my biggest influence so far,” Weinell said of her band director.