WASHINGTON — Cold but proud, the Punahou School band, Junior ROTC cadets and cheerleaders marched to the White House yesterday, cementing their role in the historic inauguration of Barack Obama, the school's most famous graduate.

If anyone was nervous, it didn't show as the students stepped toward the reviewing stand on Pennsylvania Avenue shortly after 5 p.m.

The new president, a 1979 Punahou graduate, locked eyes with the group and flashed a big grin and a shaka.

"He was waving and he gave us a shaka. It was just great to see him," said Jordyn Guieb, 17, a Punahou senior and co-captain of the six-person cheer squad that marched with the band.

"If it wasn't so cold outside, I would have had chicken skin," Guieb said after the parade as students scrambled to get their gear stowed and board a bus.

The Honolulu private school sent 156 students to the nation's capital, including band members, 17 JROTC cadets and six varsity cheerleaders.

The group was given a prime parade slot, the first nonmilitary band to pass before the White House reviewing stand.

An estimated 13,000 people from all 50 states marched the 1 1/2-mile parade route from the Capitol.

Band director Darin Au expressed pride in his students' performance.

"After traveling a significant distance, to come into an environment that they're not really familiar with and in the midst of all that perform well — of course, yeah, I'm very proud of them," Au said.

Band member Brent Nagamine said the hourslong wait for the parade to start was made "miserable" by the cold and wind. But students made the best of it, entertaining themselves through it all.

"They say that laughter is the best medicine, and we started laughing because as we tried to keep warm, a couple of us started to dance the hokey-pokey — it worked," Nagamine said.

Jessica Yoshimi, another band member, was relieved by the time they stopped marching.

"I just want to shout, 'We did it! We're done!' " she said.

Yoshimi said she and her schoolmates were told to keep their eyes forward as they marched. But that was tough to do.

"Can you imagine telling your children or grandchildren about this someday?" she said. "We had to try not to look around, but I peeked to the side and saw President Obama."

The students' appearance capped a busy five-day stay in Washington, where they saw many of the capital city's most famous monuments and were surprised to encounter reminders of home.

Arriving for a tour of the U.S. Capitol, students were greeted by a larger-than-life statue of King Kamehameha. One of the most recognizable of the many statues that occupy the Capitol complex, the statue was recently positioned at the entrance to the newly opened Capitol Visitor Center.

And during a pre-inaugural practice at a Virginia high school football field, a nearby resident introduced himself to staff and students as a class of 1958 alumnus who last year attended his 50th reunion at Punahou, according to Laurel Husain, the school's communications director.