Holt’s Personal Macy’s Day Parade
The essential skills classroom worked to bring some holiday cheer to our community, and the payoff is here.
On November 24th, 2020, the essential skills students held a fun and unique twist of the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Put together by the kids and the staff members, the parade had several floats, some of which included Santa’s Sleigh, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and a turkey float. A couple of the staff members who were involved in the parade was the main teacher, Abby Bollwerk, and teacher aide Aaron Smith. When asked about why the students decided to put together their own spin on the parade, Bollwerk said this,
“We had a lesson about the Macy’s Day Parade and the history of the parade, and thought we would do our own,” Bollwerk said. “We thought the teachers deserved appreciation, and we wanted to bring holiday cheer.”
The students didn’t have much time to put the parade together, but the festivity wound up being a huge success with staff members in every corner of the hallway.
“It took 3 days,” Bollwerk said. “We weren’t sure how long it would take, but we worked together and pulled it off.”
Smith not only played the role of Santa Claus in the parade but helped tremendously in making the vision of a Thanksgiving Day Parade real.
“The best part about it was the excitement on the kids’ faces,” Smith said when asked what was so special about this parade. “The kids did most of the decorations but it was really nice that the art teacher downstairs and Dr. Adams helped, too.”
The most shining part of this entire parade was the incredible will of the students. The entire essential needs class assisted in putting this parade together with good spirits.
“I liked playing Charlie Brown and waving at people,” Trenton Littrell (21) said when asked what his favorite part was. “It wasn’t that hard,” he added. Littrell helped in putting the parade together and took the role of Charlie Brown in the Charlie Brown Christmas segment of the parade.
Essential skills student Campbell Weichselbaum (23) was front and center of the parade, wearing pom-poms. Her excitement made the parade a whole lot brighter.
“The best thing is when I got to play with the caboose!” Weichselbaum (23) said about her favorite part of the parade.
Throughout the parade, the kids were giving out colorful paper along with candy, which is something sweet everyone can get behind.
“I liked seeing all the people,” Ashley Hauk (21) said.
Most teachers were outside their rooms cheering the kids on in the heartfelt celebration of all the work teachers have been putting into this chaotic year.
“The most fun thing was the car with Santa Claus,” Alyssa Difani (21) said.
Times aren’t easy right now, that’s all too well known. Thanksgiving is a hard time to celebrate when it feels like there isn’t very much to be thankful for. These kids and teachers saw something that we didn’t. In a situation of a million things to be angry about, this class brought real love to everyone who’s working with all their might right now. This small, student and staff made Macy’s Day Thanksgiving parade gave us something to be thankful for.
