Embassy Events

Georgia Student Marching Band Takes the Stage - in Downtown Bratislava

Chargé d’Affaires Eddins greets marching band members from Georgia. Photo: Igor Schneeweiss.

In an exchange program with Slovak schools, the Decatur (Georgia) High School Marching Band visited Bratislava and performed an open-air concert on Hviezdoslav Square in the historic center of Bratislava on April 8. The Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires Keith Eddins joined other American and Slovak well-wishers in cheering the group. The students stay with Slovak host families, and later this spring the Slovak student musicians will visit Georgia. Decatur High School is a public high school in Georgia enrolling 1006 students in grades 9-12. The Decatur Marching Band won the Tennessee Valley Invitational at Muscle Shoals High School in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in 2006. The Tennessee Valley Invitational is one of the largest and most prestigious marching contests in the region. This is the most important award that the band has earned since the band director, Robbie Stout, took control of the band in 2004. During past 5 years, Decatur has rebounded to joined the same group as the Austin High Symphonic A Band, the Virgil Grissom High A Band, and other bands that are considered to be among the few Alabama high school elite. Since 2007 the band is led by Will Henderson.