HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — The J.R. Tucker High School Marching Tigers will make history this Saturday as they perform in the inauguration parade for Virginia’s first female governor and one of their own alumni Abigail Spanberger.
"I'm very excited to do it," Tucker student Naomi Jamison said.
"First female governor in Virginia. That's amazing. I think it's really cool that we get to be there on the front lines for supporting her," Tucker High School student Ryan Moore said.
"I was like, I wonder if she's going to ask us, since she went here," Tucker band director Austin Frank said.
Frank said they were asked right before winter break, and it was an easy yes.
"As her alma mater, I feel like that is a huge honor to be there for her and support her and just give the kids an opportunity," Frank said.
For students like Jamison and Moore, getting to take part in Spanberger's ceremony is exciting for multiple reasons.
"I think it just says that anything is possible," Jamison said.
"She's a Tucker alumni. I think it's great we get to represent her," Moore said. "Second of all, my mom actually taught her daughter, so I thought that was pretty cool. But at the end of the day I get another excuse to play my loud honking machine."
For Frank, it's a chance to give the kids a memory of a lifetime, something he knows firsthand as he took part in Governor Terry McAuliffe's inauguration as a member of the James Madison University marching band.
"It is something they can cherish and hold on to when they have kids or maybe if they become teachers and say hey I was there," Frank said.
Frank adds it couldn't happen to a better group of kids considering Tucker's track record and potential future leaders.
"They make it enjoyable, they reassure me that we're going to be in good hands in the future just because of who they are as people," Frank said.
Spanberger, known as Abigail Davis when she graduated from Tucker, will become the second Tucker alum to reach the governor's mansion.
The 68th governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore, became the first in 1998.
Tucker isn't the only Henrico school representing the county at the inauguration ceremony. The Hermitage Choir will also be taking part.
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