On Monday, April 27, the Choral Boosters organized a parade to pay tribute to this year’s seniors.

Choral Boosters President Andi Cerrillo came up with the idea and organized the parade logistics. She said, “I was thinking about a good way to recognize the seniors of the Chorale, Musical, and Show Choir, and one morning I saw a little parade going by my street and it hit me.”

Cerrillo, who has a daughter who is a senior, said she knows how much time and effort the seniors have put into the Choral programs these last four years. “I wanted to recognize the seniors’ hard work and dedication throughout the year and some of them have been devoted to this program the whole four years of their high school career, so we wanted to get them some closure as well,” said Cerrillo.

Brian Fancher, choir teacher and one of the vocal music directors, believes this year’s seniors went through a lot, especially with the cancellation of the spring musical and concerts. He said, “We wanted to show our love and support for [the seniors] and all they’ve contributed these past four years.”

After coming up with the idea, Cerrillo had to get the rest of the boosters on board. She said, “[I had to] get in touch with the Choral Boosters and throw the idea to them and ask for feedback. Once they were all on board, I proceeded to contact Larry [Braun] to get the banners retrieved from the school.”

Braun, the musical director and show choir choreographer, normally organizes an end-of-the-year banquet in which senior banners are displayed. The banners could now be used as part of the parade. Braun said, “Mr. Legan met me at the high school to retrieve the banners which were hung up in the hallway outside of the Choir Room.”

Braun said the parade was a team effort that got full support. “We all wanted to recognize the hard work of all of the seniors in our program. All of the directors (Brian Fancher, Larry Braun, Vinny Polowy, and Jenny Walker) and Choral Booster Board parents (Andi Cerrillo, Darcy Horvat, Danielle Varanese, Amy Marcelli, & Janet Harris) participated along with some students (Alexis Glumm, Jillian Harris, Kyra Horvat, Carolina Tellado, and Jaiden Varanese),” Braun said.

In order to have the parade, a route to each of the houses had to be planned. Cerrillo said, “I went to Google Maps to plan a route that will flow like a school bus in which you have the house on your right side. Then did a few test runs of my route to recognize the houses and calculate the time.”

With the route planned, there was still an unknown amount of cars that would be in the parade. “There were over 18 stops to make with 9 vehicles on the route so Andi had to consider which way to enter a specific address so we could continue safely to the next address,” Braun said.

Treasurer of the Choral Boosters, Darcy Horvat, helped with decision-making and participated in the parade. She said, “Seeing the idea come to life in the parking lot was amazing. Watching everyone decorate their cars with balloons and writing on their windows made everything feel like it was coming together.”

One of the seniors recognized was show choir band member Jack Giesey. Braun said, “After we delivered the banner to Jack Giesey, he jumped in his car, joined the parade, and was blowing a horn out the window the entire time!”

Similarly, Cerrillo enjoyed seeing the smiling faces of the students. She said, “[I loved] to watch all the surprised and smiling faces, from both the seniors and their parents! It brought me a lot of joy!”