Moanalua High School junior Gregg Akamine already feels the pressure.

The drum major and alto saxophone player, along with his marching band mates, are gearing up to give a performance of a lifetime for hundreds of thousands of spectators next year in Phoenix.

"There is pressure, especially because we are representing not only the community, we're also representing the state," said Akamine, 16. "It's an honor (and) a privilege, too."

The Moanalua High School "Menehune" Marching Band and Color Guard have been invited to perform and compete in the Fiesta Bowl Parade, presented by Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation on Jan. 2 in Phoenix.

The students are fundraising through November to compete in the parade, among the main events of the Fiesta Bowl, a Bowl Championship Series bowl game.

Several dozen high school bands nationwide applied for a chance to compete in both the parade and a field show championship, presented by the University of Phoenix.

Only nine bands, including Moanalua, were accepted to participate in both events.

"We receive a very high quality of applications," said Dick Stemple, the Fiesta Bowl band selection chair and a former chairman of the board for the Fiesta Bowl. "Bands are very, very happy to get an invitation here."

Applicants are judged on musical skills and visual presentations, Stemple said by phone from Phoenix.

REPRESENTING ISLES

The students are planning to place their focus on the parade competition, which doesn't require the entire band.

High costs and time commitments made it difficult for all the eligible students to participate. Of the band's 230 members, so far about 170 students have committed.

"When they go there and they march the parade, they march on behalf of everyone here (in Hawai'i)," Seta said. "They're responsible not to win, they're responsible to represent the state and their families the best they can."

Although the Moanalua students were invited to compete in the field show championship, they will likely forgo that prestigious event because of the difficulty of getting a sufficient number of students to Arizona, said Elden Seta, Moanalua's music director for the past 22 years.

"The amount of kids who couldn't go would have affected the students' performance," Seta said.

STANDOUT SCHOOL

Moanalua stood out among other applicants because of the band's visual presentation, including its costumes and uniforms, Stemple said.

"They play beautifully, but their visual is so much different from Mainland bands," Stemple said. "They're gorgeous."

The Moanalua band will perform "Hawai'i March" from the movie "Hawai'i" along the two-mile parade route. The route alone attracts 200,000 to 300,000 spectators each year, Stemple said.

The Moanalua band, highly regarded among other band programs statewide, has also performed in the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl parades in previous years.

Last year at the state marching band competition, Moanalua won first place in all categories, including the overall sweepstakes championship.

RACE TO FUNDRAISE

Amid the pressure to perform well is the pressure to raise money for the trip.

The cost for each of the 170 students attending is about $2,300, which students and their families are responsible to cover themselves with the help of fundraisers. Nearly 60 staff members, parents and volunteers going on the trip will also have to cover their own expenses.

The individual costs don't include other group travel expenses, so the band hopes to raise $16,000 to $20,000 more by November. In addition to profits from cookie sales and car washes, monetary donations from the community are also welcome. (See box.)

"The support of fundraisers help to offset a variety of travel-related expenses, like the transporting of equipment and the cost of their special attire for the trip," said June Choriki, president of the Moanalua High School Music Boosters Association. "Many of the families are on a very tight budget and these funds help to make the trip more affordable."

Fundraising stresses aside, band students are just thrilled with the thought of being ambassadors of aloha.

"We're really excited and happy to be representing the state," said Moanalua senior Chelsea Isa, 16, president of the music department. "I know we'll make you guys proud."

For Akamine, one of the marching band's two drum majors, the event is not at all about the competition, but the overall experience. "We're all going to try our hardest and we're all going to do our very best," he said.