A.W. Beattie students turn Thanksgiving parade into schoolwide event benefiting North Hills Community Outreach

Giving thanks and giving back to those in need were the themes of a student-led Thanksgiving parade at A.W. Beattie Career Center in McCandless.

It also was a special treat for the preschoolers of Beattie’s Kiddie Tech program, who got to march in the parade around the school.

While the parade has been part of the preschool program for years, this is the first year it was opened up for whole-school participation, thanks to two Beattie sophomores.

“The idea that inspired the entire food drive stemmed from something we already do in my program with the preschoolers of Kiddie Tech. Each year, the ‘little kids’ have a Thanksgiving parade and throw candy to the ‘big kids.’ We talk about the kindness the big kids show the preschoolers and how great it feels to give candy back to them,” said Cari Ludwig, who heads the Early Childhood Education program at Beattie.

The two early education students who led the effort of making it a schoolwide event were Riley Jones of the Deer Lakes School District and Simone Panza of the Hampton School District.

Ludwig asked the teens if they were interested in making the event bigger, and Jones said it was an easy choice.

“We’re in FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America), and Simone is always really nice. I think we just knew we wanted to work together,” Jones said.

The event also raised money for North Hills Community Outreach, which Panza said is most important.

“I hope this fills everyone with the spirit of thankfulness and giving, especially our Kiddie Tech students,” Panza said.

A.W. Beattie Career Center offers 19 programs for students in 10th through 12th grades to prepare them for college and careers after graduation. Participating school districts are Avonworth, Deer Lakes, Fox Chapel Area, Hampton, Northgate, North Allegheny, North Hills, Pine-Richland and Shaler Area.

Besides the Early Childhood Education students and Kiddie Tech preschoolers, Ludwig said the career center’s other programs participated — including Veterinary Sciences, Sports Medicine and Rehab Therapy, Health and Nursing Sciences, Advertising and Design, Carpentry and Building Construction, Computer Safety, Dental, Surgical Science and Cosmetology.

To have a float or banner in the parade, the Beattie programs each needed to donate a minimum of $20 toward North Hils Community Outreach.

Overall, the school raised $360.50, which was presented to NHCO, as well as approximately $250 in food items, Ludwig said.

Each participating program made their floats the week before, parading inside and outside the school campus on Babcock Boulevard in McCandless.

In addition to this new initiative, the students returned the day before Thanksgiving to pack individual meals for NHCO to deliver to community members in need. The FCCLA student service organization had been doing this for the past seven years, said Ludwig, who also serves as the group’s adviser.

“We definitely recognized it was probably going to be big and a lot of work, but it’s actually been really manageable. The more we’ve worked together, the more excited we get for today’s parade,” Panza said.

Students besides Jones and Panza who helped help box up meals included Avonworth’s Molly Tadler; Deer Lakes’ Thomas Peterson and Natalie Naugle; Hampton’s Palyn Crivella and Kylee Maslanka; North Allegheny’s Lily Neal and Sophie Saulsberry; North Hills’ Tony Stratigos, Penelope Zebley, Chris Rooker, Elijah Rabiteau, Ava Metzger and Isabell Baker; Pine-Richland’s Sofia Robinson, Tatiana Stedina and Giavanna Hertzig; and Shaler Area’s Richard Mellinger, Connor Baner and Lily Hughes.

Students in Culinary Arts, Pastry Arts and Early Childhood Education can participate in FCCLA. The group’s activities aim to promote personal growth, build leadership skills, network, compete and more, according to Ludwig.

In addition to the monetary and food donations raised by parade participants, FCCLA students in the Culinary Arts and Pastry Arts programs will prepare nearly 300 Thanksgiving meals for North Hills Community Outreach, Ludwig said.

“It made sense to bridge the FCCLA Thanksgiving tradition with the growing parade tradition so that each would benefit those in need,” Ludwig said. “As an inaugural event, the parade and food drive was a success.”

Jones and Panza said they enjoy attending Beattie’s Early Childhood Education program.

“It’s getting me prepared for the real world,” said Jones, who is interested becoming a second grade teacher or a radiologist. “It gives you a sense of gratitude and accomplishment when you see them happy and actively learning and developing because of what you are doing with them.”

Panza also hopes to be a second grade teacher.

“Every day that I’m at Beattie, I’m happier than when I came in. Being in our classroom is like being in our own small community. We spend nearly two-and-a-half hours together. We’re very close, and we enjoy every day together,” Panza said.