Education To Debut Floats And Other Crowd Pleasers During Children’s Parade On Friday

Department of Education Commissioner Sharon Ann McCollum and and D.O.E. is inviting the community to support the 65^th Annual Carnival Children’s Parade on April 28 beginning at 10 a.m. in downtown Charlotte Amalie.

This year, the Department has as its theme, “Learning, Feting and Fun for the Centennial Celebration.”

Under the direction of Dionne Donadelle, territorial director of music, the Department will showcase entries featuring the three A’s: academics, athletics and the arts. The Department’s engineering and maintenance divisions have constructed floats with themes surrounding cultural education, agriculture and sports. Life-sized characters from books featured in the Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge will be highlighted prominently, and the Department’s anti-litter mascot, Squeaky, will make its official debut.

Close to 300 students and chaperones from sister-island St. Croix will also participate in the parade. The territory’s four high school bands will perform and athletes from Tortola, currently participating in the Department’s First Annual Hoops in Paradise Invitational Tournament at BCB Middle School, will join Department of Education athletes along the parade route. A special STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Mathematics) troupe will also perform. In addition to the Department’s entry, comprised of approximately 600 students, individual schools will also perform.

The Department of Education’s Student Quarterly magazine will be distributed to parade attendees, as well as reusable bags, children’s books and other promotional items.

Of the endeavor, which is inclusive of general and special education students, as well as English Language Learners, Commissioner McCollum said, “We want everyone to come out and support our students to show them how much we care about them. They have worked extremely hard and we look forward to seeing the community in large numbers.”