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22 Tampa singers to join Macy's parade
By ANNA COSTELLO
Published November 22, 2004
TAMPA - For 78 years, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City has been considered the official opening of the holiday season. This year it has special significance for some Tampa Bay area residents.
A group of chorus students from Williams Middle Magnet School for International Studies will join 500 singers and dancers as part of the national musical ensemble America Sings!
Rain or shine, the 22 Williams chorus members will sing and dance down the 21/2-mile parade route.
The students attending are a part of the Cougar Vocal Ensemble, a club at the school. They are "the cream of the crop and my best vocalists," says choral director Meredith Scribner. The ensemble's members are seventh- and eighth-graders.
America Sings!, which was founded in 1988 and creates noncompetitve choral music festivals, will be composed of about 500 students and young adults ages 12 to 23, according to the group's Web site. The group will stop in Herald Square during the parade, and its performance will be broadcast live.
The Williams students received this opportunity after John Jacobson saw them perform at Disney World in February and asked if the group would like to perform in New York. Jacobson is the lead composer and choreographer for America Sings!
The group sold candy bars, Krispy Kreme donuts and brochure items to help fund the trip. Members of the faculty also made contributions toward the estimated $1,200 cost per student. The chorus members and their chaperones leave today for New York.
The members are Laurel Bailey, Laura Barros, Bruna Bouhid, Ariel Canchani, Emily Cantler, Danielle Gilson, Ximena Hernandez, Simone Kallett, Desire Mendoza, Stephanie Miller, Amber Mirajkar, Jenna Molloy, Leela Mundra, Tonia Nowicke, Zach Pena, Samantha Roughton, Emily Schrot, Danielle Stephens, Jakeb Thacker, Danielle Vermilyea, Stephanie Yeager and Cassie Zajac.
- Anna Costello, 17, is in 12th grade at St. Petersburg High.
