A Pella alumna had a whirlwind experience in Pasadena over winter break.

Emma Johnson performed with the 250-member Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band in the annual Rose Bowl parade and football game on January 1st.

Johnson, a 2015 graduate of Pella High School, says it was her first ever visit to California, and will remember the entire event as a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

“We took the field and the entire stadium was chanting out ‘Let’s Go Hawks!’ and I was like ‘I’m in the Rose Bowl, I’m marching down the field in the Rose Bowl, and I will probably never do this again,’ and it was so exciting, I had goosebumps,” Johnson recalls.

“It was really an exhilarating experience.”

Johnson tells KNIA/KRLS she was encouraged after graduation to audition for the Hawkeyes Marching Band by Iowa alum and Marching Dutch Assistant Director Dameon Place.

“Mr. Place was actually in the Hawkeye Marching Band and he was the one that really convinced me to do it,” she says.

The band had quite a few rehearsals and appearances throughout her time in Pasadena, and she says it was less of a vacation and more of a business trip. However, Johnson was able to take in some of the landmarks in Los Angeles.

“We don’t really get a lot of free time and in that free time nothing is scheduled, but we had around four hours the morning before the Rose Bowl parade,” Johnson says. “I went and visited Hollywood and got to see the Hollywood Sign, I did the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I saw the Chinese Theatre and that area.”

We have more with Johnson about her Rose Bowl experience on Let’s Talk Pella Wednesday.