BALTIMORE — Going to Paris is one thing, but becoming the first HBCU to perform in a parade there is different.
Last spring, Morgan State's marching band was selected to perform at the D-Day Anniversary Parade in Normandy.
Drum Major Travis Jones says the overall experience was great.
"It definitely was an experience. It was a moment of spotlight and moment of gratitude because I didn't know how to process [it]," Jones said.
His role in the band is to carry on the director's vision, to make sure the band is "great sounding."
Jones said people had to vote on which band would perform in the parade and Morgan got the most votes.
After the announcement, that's when they got to work.
"Our band director, Dr. Reed, he just got it going. We had workouts during the springtime to keep our body conditioned. We had practice every other day. And then once that was going, it was all administrative stuff, getting our passports, getting the plane set, hotels, book things between them and a travel agency," Jones explained.
As far as differences go between Paris and the U.S., Jones says they have us beat.
"They got us beat on a lot of things... Everything that you buy is already tax included. So if it's $2.50 it's $2.50 straight out, like over here, it might be $2.50 then you got that 6% tax."
"They're heavy on bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and surprisingly, for them to be Paris, there's a lot of Italian restaurants," Jones added.
The performance went well and Jones even says the distance of the parade wasn't bad.
However, a special guest showed up and made things a little difficult for the Magnificent Marching Machine.
"We had President Biden there. He had all our streets shut off, so us trying to get around him with the Secret Service, it wasn't a bad part, it was just one of those things," Jones said.
Getting flown out to Paris with the President in attendance seems like something you'd be thinking about for a long time right?
Well, not for Jones and the band. They're already thinking about their next big performance, homecoming.
He wants them to "go big" this year because of the incident at last year's event.
"On the band side, we already know go big or go home. So we [were] already going to do that, but its also back on the campus, as in, like, hopefully nothing bad happens," he said.
With all this new recognition Morgan is getting, Jones wants people to continue thinking of HBCU's.
"After all the grants, donations, things like that, and especially for Morgan to be considered a national treasure, I gotta give it to President Wilson. President Wilson is doing his thing," Jones said proudly.
"It's just things after things, after things that's actually putting a good name for HBCU's."