Another Last for Sebastian

There is no rest for the almost-graduated, at least not in this house. Eight and a half hours after we returned home from a wonderful weekend in Arizona, where we celebrated the high school graduation of my niece Kayci, Sebastian rolled out of bed yesterday morning to perform one last time in his Northfield High School band uniform.

Photo by Karen Dempsey

Directed by Mary Williams, the Northfield High School Band performs every year at the local Memorial Day services, and I can’t imagine the ceremony without the music the band provides. In addition to the “Star Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful” and “America,” the band plays the official songs for each branch of the service, as veterans in the audience from each group stand and are recognized.

The band performed before and during Monday’s ceremony at Veterans Park.

And of course there is “Taps.” Last year Sebastian was asked to be one of the two trumpet players to play “Echo Taps,” and he did it again this year, joined by junior Emerson Pagel.

Photo by Karen Dempsey

Hearing Sebastian play this year was extra special because it was the last time I will hear him play his trumpet as a high school student; he will graduate from Northfield High School on Sunday afternoon.


Sebastian will attend Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the fall, where he plans to study history, political science, Greek, Latin, French and Arabic. He hopes to continue playing the trumpet and singing as a college student, either in an official group or just for fun on his own. It will be fun to see where his musical interests take him.