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Pershing wins best float; field hockey takes second
For the first time, Latin Club walks with a float in the parade. “Students took the lead with our float,” said Matthew Tuths, Latin teacher. “We built a mini Mt. Olympus.”
November 11, 2015
The field hockey team has won the homecoming float competition so many times that no one on the team is certain of the exact number.
“[We’ve won] each year that I’ve been in high school, except one year they didn’t give it to us because they felt like we won too much,” said Korinna Brandt, senior.
Apparently, 2015 was another one of those years. Field hockey took second place this year, after Pershing Elementary. Rounding out the top three was Jackson Park Elementary.
The secret to the team’s success begins with the parents, according to Coach Marisa Sheppard.
“We have a dedicated crew of alumni parents that help out every year,” said Sheppard. “They love field hockey, and they’re very supportive of what I’m doing with the field hockey program.”
April Silverman is one of the biggest forces behind the float every year. Although her daughters who were on the team graduated several years ago, she said she’s happy to help.
“I played field hockey in high school, and my daughter plays [in college], and I feel like I’m still connected to it,” she said. “It’s my way of giving back.”
Derrick Coley worked on the floats while his daughter was the team. She graduated four years ago, but he also continues to help out every year.
“I’m just excited to see the involvement of the community in things like this,” said Coley. “This is what makes a community a community.”
Over the years, the team has developed a process to design and build the float, according to Sheppard.
“Derrick will come to practice, we have a team chat, and he throws out what he thinks is feasible on the trailor,” Sheppard said. “Then he starts to build and we see what’s possible.”
Each year, there are two or three parent workdays on the float as well as two or three player workdays, according to Hayle Jones, sophomore.
“Because some stuff we can’t do, but the parents can do,” Jones said. “Like build the actual float, because we don’t do all that, because they don’t want us to be hurt.”
Brandt emphasized that the players do their fair share of the work.
“We all pitch in,” she said. “It’s not just like, oh, yeah, we let our parents do the whole thing. We help with painting and the design.”
