Southern Boone band director marches in the Rose Bowl parade for second time

Southern Boone’s T.J. Higgins stepped back in the band line to perform in this year’s Rose Parade.

The band director at Southern Boone Middle School and High School joined band directors from around the country to perform with the nationally recognized Saluting America’s Band Directors for the second time. Higgins was part of the group in the 2022 parade.

For this year’s parade, Higgins was able to return to Pasadena, California, to march alongside friends. Despite some travel delays, he jumped right into rehearsal after landing in California on Dec. 30, 2025.

The project band carries the national theme, “America’s Band Directors: We teach music. We teach life.” Higgins said the message especially resonates with him.

“I try to help my students not only become better musicians, but better people in general and prepare them for life,” he told the Journal. “It’s great that (the band is) able to highlight the field of music education.”

He said his students were excited to hear he’d been selected, and were watching for him from home.

The most memorable moment for Higgins from this year’s parade came from an impromptu performance amid float judging on New Year’s Eve, when the band was situated next to the OneLegacy Donate Life float.

Donate Life America is an organization that advocates for those awaiting lifesaving organ transplants by encouraging the public to register as organ donors. The float honored the lives of those lost whose decisions to become organ donors had saved others, and many of the honorees’ families were in attendance.

The band decided to honor the families of organ donors by playing “Amazing Grace.”

“It was a very moving experience because one of our trombones, his daughter’s picture, was on that float,” Higgins said.

Josh Boyd, the trombone player, told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune his daughter, Emily, would have “loved” the parade. Her donation went on to save three lives.

The band’s performance for the honorees’ families later went viral, and NBC News featured the moment on Jan. 17 as part of a “Good News” segment.

Along the iconic five-mile parade route, the band played a myriad of songs through the morning rain, including a medley of “Strike Up the Band” and “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Brand New Day” from “The Wiz,” and “76 Trombones” from “The Music Man.” Higgins performed with a marching baritone.

He said the California skies broke nearly immediately after the band stepped off.

“Right as we were coming up on ‘TV corner,’ the rain picked up and it was pouring on us,” he said.

“But we made it through and marched the parade, and it was still an awesome experience,” Higgins said. “And by the time we finished the parade, over the course of the couple hours that it takes, it was sunny.”