Submitted photo Four former Elkins High School students will be performing with the West Virginia University Marching Band Saturday during the Mountain State Forest Festival. From left, Emma Arbogast-Morgan, Elliot Hart, Caroline Simmons and Jade Neubauer will march with the Pride of West Virginia during the Grand Feature Parade and perform at the Jack Basil Field Show.

ELKINS — When the Pride of West Virginia — the West Virginia University Marching Band — makes its way across town during the Mountain State Forest Festival Grand Feature Parade Saturday, four of its band members will be in familiar surroundings.

That’s because Emma Arbogast-Morgan, Elliot Hart, Caroline Simmons and Jade Neubauer have marched the streets of Elkins many times before as members of the Elkins High School Band.

“It’s really cool having four students representing Elkins with the Pride of West Virginia,” Elkins High School Band Director Seth Blake told The Inter-Mountain Monday. “All of them have worked so hard to perfect their craft and get stronger as musicians.

“Getting to see kids playing at the next level is incredible and there’s definitely a lot of fulfillment on my end because it means something we did together, makes them want to keep doing it at the next level.”

Arbogast-Morgan and Jade Neubauer both play piccolo for the WVU Band, while Hart plays the snare drum and Simmons is a member of the band’s color guard. They are the first Elkins High School students to march with the Pride of West Virginia since 2016.

Arbogast-Morgan, Hart and Simmons all graduated from EHS in 2024, while Neubauer earned her high school degree in 2022. Blake admits he had a feeling that all four would go on to bigger and better things after high school.

“They were the kids that, if you ask them to run a mile, they were going to go 10,” he said. “They were all hard workers by nature and there was no give up in any of them. Whenever things started getting tough, they wanted to keep pushing forward… Getting to watch them come home to their hometown festival and perform for their hometown crowd is going to be really special.”

The WVU Marching Band last attended the Mountain State Forest Festival five years ago. The band will also be part of the Jack Basil Band Field Show, which will take place Saturday evening at Tiger Stadium. That event is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m.

Blake, who is a graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College, will also have two former students, Leo Dunmire and Aaron Mabry, performing with his alma-mater’s band at the Mountain State Forest Festival.