On September 30, 2022, Lightridge High School had its first homecoming parade. The entire Student Council Association started working behind the scenes in early September to try and make sure this new experience was enjoyable for everyone. Prior to the event, lightridgenews.com sat down with the four SCA Class Presidents  to discuss the process that made the parade happen.

“It’s the first time we’re doing the parade, it’s going to be really fun,” said Senior Class President Madison McGriff. “We’re also getting our community involved, and I feel like it’s really nice to just be around a lot of people in our community, and it’ll get our spirits up.”

 “I think it was Ms. Schrader that said she saw Riverside do it,” said Sophomore Class President Kyle Heavener.  “She takes her kids over to Riverside to watch the parades and she took inspiration from them.” The theme of each class’s float was inspired by the Spirit Day decade assigned to the class.

 “I actually came up with the arcade theme for the float,” said Heavener.  “We are the 90’s decade, so we were thinking like 90’s music or 90’s pop culture but we ended up with an arcade theme.” 

Each class split up and planned what they wanted their float to look like, starting with a basic idea and drawing out dimensions. Then they started making physical decorations for the float. 

“Making the decorations was probably the best part,” said Freshman Class President Nicole Almeida.. 

Members of SCA came before school  to work on the floats. Getting people to focus early in the morning proved to be a challenge.

“Just getting people in here at 8:15 every morning and keeping them on task – and I’m guilty of that myself – it’s not easy to stay on task at 8:30 in the morning,” said Heavener.

The school did not provide money for the SCA floats. Each class had to raise funds for materials. These materials included cardboard, streamers, and paint.

 “I think our class’s total was around $200, and that was for float supplies,” said McGriff.

Another major part of the parade was the Lightridge Marching Band. The event was the Lightridge Marching Storm’s first foray into marching in a parade. Mr. Jacob Zerega, one of the Lightridge band directors  said it’s “much easier” to march in the parade than the halftime show. 

“They just have to learn where they’re standing and practice marching in a circle,” said Zerega, “versus halftime, where they have their own unique individual spot that they must hold themselves accountable for.” 

The parade, which ended up being attended by approximately 500 people, was judged a success by SCA, despite the difficulties that accompanied the planning.

“It was a learning process because it’s our first time ever doing a parade,” said Junior Class President Emma Lawrence.

All the presidents agreed that it was a good beginning to what will hopefully be a long standing tradition.