Mundelein High band member raising money to play in Rose Parade

A Mundelein High School senior has been selected to perform in the Rose Parade on New Year's Day.

Now clarinetist Donald Renz will try to raise the money to cover the costs of the California trip.

Renz, 17, of Mundelein, was chosen to perform with the Music for All's Bands of America Honor Band at the 124th annual parade. The group will feature 300 high school musicians and color guard performers from across the country.

Renz will be the only musician from Lake County.

“I'm thrilled,” he said Tuesday. “This is a really cool opportunity for me, to go out and represent my high school and town. And it's with some of the best high school marchers in the country.”

Renz and the other performers were selected after submitting recorded audio auditions. They will gather in California on Dec. 27 and begin rehearsing for the parade and a field show.

Renz wants to raise $2,000 to offset most of the trip's costs. To get there, he and other Mundelein High band members will hold a 5½-mile fundraising march on Sunday, Nov. 4.

The distance equals the distance of the Rose Parade through Pasadena.

The teens will play along the way and visit local businesses on the route, collecting donations as they go. They'll collect pledges before the event, too.

For a big enough gift, Renz said, the teens will alter their planned route to perform personally for a donor. He hopes to get some takers.

Renz has played clarinet for eight years and joined the Marching Mustangs as a freshman. His marching band career began in the seventh grade at Sandburg Middle School in Mundelein.