Samantha Quart has been waiting for this parade for a long time.

When the Santa Maria High School band director first sent in her application to be a part of the Saluting America’s Band Directors in the Pasadena Rose Parade, it was 2019.

Two years later, on New Year’s Day, Quart will finally be getting to be in the parade.

The Saluting America’s Band Directors project was founded to recognize the inspiration that music educators provide to the students they teach.

“I feel like it is a chance to show that while we are educators, we are kind of first and foremost performers as well,” Quart told Noozhawk.

Quart found out she was accepted to be part of the event in November 2019, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the parade has been postponed for two years.

“Being so close to the event and I’ve waited this long … it feels so close,but it feels like its never going to happen,” Quart said.

Quart applied as a tuba player — not her primary instrument but one that she chose for a reason.

“I like marching with the tuba because the stereotype is some hairy big guy, and being a petite female, I like to show them,” Quart said, adding that she was one of less than five females in her whole section of 25 people.

“I’m just glad to share with my students that it doesn’t matter who you are, or what you identify as, you can do it.”

Quart said that her students are what helped her secure the spot.

“With how much I’ve done with my kids and how many things they accomplished, they helped me get accepted,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been accepted if my kids didn’t put up with all the exercises and things I made them do!”

— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.