For 14 year-old Leya Borrego-Clause it's been a full-time commitment: countless hours of practicing, fund-raising not to mention the intense psychological demands of pulling off the performance of a lifetime.
"It was a lot of work and especially being in middle school we have a lot of homework and all of the other stuff we had to do outside school took a lot out of us."
But with just weeks before the big trip, Leya and her classmates were given some devastating news. Even Colts owner Jim Irsay's generous donation to the band didn't stop Indianapolis Public Schools from deciding that middle school students were just too young to make the trip.
"The decision was made that it would be for high school students," said IPS spokewoman Marie-Louise Bewer. "There needs to be a lot of supervision on airplanes, airports, hotels so it’s more than a simple band competition here in Indiana."
Bewer says the decision was made back in August.
So why were the 8th graders just finding out now?
"It was poor communication between the school and the students,” said Bewer. “We feel terrible about that. The kids should have been made aware much sooner in the process. We do apologize that's definitely something we need to work on for future trips."
But apology aside, Leya says it isn't stopping her from being supportive and will continue to practice with the team
"We're still going to go and we're still a family we shouldn't not show up just because we can't go."
