Mundelein student set for Pasadena parade
Mundelein High School senior Donald Renz will go to Pasadena this winter to play in the Tournament of Roses parade. Renz plays the clarinet. | Joe Cyganowski~For Sun-Times Media
To contact Renz
about contributing toward his trip to the Tournament of Roses Parade, send email to donaldroseparade@gmail.com.
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Updated: October 11, 2012 2:26PM
MUNDELEIN — On New Year’s Day, Mundelein High School senior Donald Renz will play his clarinet in a venue very different from a high school football field.
Chosen to represent Mundelein and Lake County in Music for All’s Band of America Honor Band at the 124th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade, in Pasadena, Calif., Renz will play alongside 300 high school students from around the country.
Renz had to audition for the honor and will meet the other performers Dec. 27, when they will start to prepare for their part in the nationally broadcast Tournament of Roses Parade and Bandfest Field Show.
To help him make the trip, Renz and the MHS band will participate in a 5.5-mile March-A-Thon Sunday, Nov. 4. The band will march through Mundelein, visiting area businesses, to raise money to pay for his trip to Pasadena, with a goal of raising $2,000, school officials said in a press release.
Playing Clarinet for eight years, Renz is a member of the MHS band program directed by Adam Gohr, Matt Farmer and Keith Pitner. He began playing the instrument as a seventh-grader at Carl Sandburg Middle School.
Starting in his junior year, Renz has held leadership roles with the band as a librarian and section leader and is a member of the school’s wind ensemble.
He also takes private clarinet lessons with Jim Kasprzyk.
Renz is a four-year honor roll student and member of the varsity cross country team, track and field team and National Honor Society.
For more Information about Music For All, go to www.musicforall.org.


