HOUSTON — Waltrip High School’s Roaring Red Ram Band is heading to the Big Easy for the Sugar Bowl after HISD originally said no.
Senior Ava Mendoza has been part of the marching band since freshman year following in her mom’s footsteps.
“At first I wanted to play percussion, but my mom also played the trumpet in her high school years,” said Ava Mendoza.
“It’s a huge honor and makes me happy and proud for her,” said Ava’s mom, Valerie Mendoza.
They are no strangers to performing at big events and about a year ago, they learned they were invited to participate in a parade for the New Year’s Day bowl game, which also serves as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, especially knowing that we were going to perform. So, we were all really excited,” said Ava Mendoza.
But the trip and the planning were brought to a halt after the district said they couldn’t go.
“They stated that New Orleans was not a safe place for our children to be at while performing,” said Valerie Mendoza.
Ava and her friends were hurt by the decision.
“It was definitely a shock, when, when the news came out,” said Band Field Captain, Jacob Gamez.
The students have been putting in a lot of work.
“You can ask any of the students at Waltrip if they hear us at 7 a.m. in the morning until we're the last people to leave at 7 p.m. And we put a lot of hard work into perfecting everything,” said band member Holley Chavez.
Saturday morning things changed. According to Mayor John Whitmire’s office, the mayor heard from Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles about a decision that was made to deny travel for the marching band to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
The mayor’s office released a statement Saturday morning saying that the mayor had informed Miles that he was happy to have Houston police escort the marching band on the trip to New Orleans and its return home as well as additional support them throughout their itinerary.
The statement also said that HPD Chief J. Noe Diaz has reached out to the Commander of Troop NOLA, the special Louisiana State Police unit created this year that covers New Orleans. He has also contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety to add their support.
“It would be the City’s honor to support the students in this way,” the statement said.
Parents are relieved that the students can still go.
“Very exciting. There were happy tears, especially from my daughter,” said Valerie Mendoza.
Ava and her friends are ready to show off their skills and hopefully inspire future marching band members.
“A morale booster for even middle school students who want to come to us and see that the important things that we do,” said Chavez.
Now, the booster club, which had been raising money for the past year is kicking things back into high gear hoping to reach their goal for the trip, even creating a GoFundMe for support.
Later Saturday morning, the mayor’s office said that Miles had “reversed a premature decision by his staff.”
“The city will support in any way that is needed to ensure these hard-working Waltrip students have a well-deserved trip to New Orleans,” the mayor’s office said.
Here is the statement from HISD Superindent Mike Miles on the decision:
"Dear Booster Leadership,
"I am writing with exciting news. This morning, I learned about the amazing opportunity the Waltrip HS Ram Band has to perform at The 2025 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. I understand the Division Leadership had safety concerns about this trip, and while student safety and security is always our top priority, I am confident we can safeguard our students and provide them with this incredible opportunity. As a proud band dad myself, I want to make sure the Roaring Ram Band can travel to the Sugar Bowl safely. To this end, I am assigning HISD PD officers to travel with the band and Division Superintendent Riddick assigned Principal Jeanette Cortez to serve as an additional chaperone.
"I know the Roaring Ram Band’s performance will be stupendous! It’s an honor for our band to show off the talents of HISD’s amazing students on such a special occasion.
"Division Superintendent Riddick and Principal Cortez would like to meet with you this coming week at Waltrip HS to discuss this opportunity more and refine logistics.
"I look forward to tuning in live to see the Roaring Ram Band in action on January 1st."