By Lou Ponsi

When the annual Swallows Day Parade made its anticipated return to the streets of San Juan Capistrano, four Capistrano Unified School District schools showed the thousands of spectators along the route a little of what makes each school special.

San Juan Hills High School, Marco Forster Middle School, and Del Obispo and San Juan elementary schools represented the Capistrano Unified School District at the 62^nd parade and festival on March 12 in downtown San Juan Capistrano. The coronavirus pandemic had forced the parade and festival to be canceled the past two years.

Marco Forster Middle School invited students from its Associated Student Body (ASB) , AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), Peer Assistance Leadership (PAL), and Dual Immersion programs to participate.

“We wanted to include everybody and represent the community,” Marco Forster Activities Director Nadine Almanza said. “For some kids, they’ve never done a parade. It is a great experience to get cheered on. It’s a great time.”

One main reason to participate was to show the community that ASB kids are leaders, said Marco Forster ASB President Eric Sotelo.

“It’s really fun,” Sotelo said. “You can see the excitement on everyone’s face.”

The parade was also a great opportunity for Marco Forster to introduce the community to its new Mariachi group, which performed along the route.

“A lot of people around here grew up on this music,” said Megan Parker, a performer in the group. “It’s really important to them.”

Aliso Niguel High School Spanish teacher Christina Sepe also participated, as she does every year, by serving as the announcer for the Spanish speaking community, which includes many who live in the neighborhood around the parade route.

“I can bridge those two communities together and that is really important to me,” Sepe said. “It’s empowering to bring it together.”

San Juan Elementary is situated adjacent to the parade route and the school’s parking lot and quad were used as a staging area for all the participants.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” San Juan Elementary Principal Guadalupe Girard said. “It’s wonderful to see our school come alive again.”

San Juan Elementary students constructed a maypole and walked the parade route performing a traditional ceremonial dance around the pole. They got the idea from looking at vintage photos of the 160-year-old school where they saw images of San Juan Elementary students performing a maypole dance, Girard said.

The San Juan Hills High School basketball and song teams used the event to show off the CIF SS Division 2 championship trophy won by the basketball team on Feb. 25.

“Schools are central to communities,” San Juan Hills High Principal Manoj Mahindrakar said. “We are in them. We are part of them. We share events … and to be able to collectively celebrate individual achievements. For everybody to be able to come out and celebrate together, particularly now after not being able to do it for two years, is just fun. It’s festive. It brings everybody together.”

Unfortunately, an outbreak of a contagious virus among horses, who are always a popular attraction in the parade, prompted organizers to keep horses out of the parade for the first time in the event’s history.

But students from Del Obispo Elementary School, who are usually transported along the parade route in a horse drawn carriage, didn’t seem to mind. Instead, Del Obispo Elementary ASB students rode on a red float towed by a pickup truck.

“I’m really excited to do this because I’ve never done this before and I’m here with all my friends,” Del Obispo second grader Cashlie Rennie said.

Lack of horses also did not prevent the Del Obispo Elementary students from waving flags and proclaiming the school’s motto along the route:

“Good, better, best. Never will I rest till my good is my better and my better is my best.”

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