There are few Homecoming celebrations in Rhode Island, if any, that match or even rival the extraordinary show Johnston High School put on last Saturday.
The sun-splashed day, in fact, was much more than just welcoming back alums and cheering on the Panthers football team.
It was a coming out party of sorts, a celebration of community pride that begins in the mayor’s office and trickles down to the student body at Johnston High School on a day that’s dedicated to the Columbia Blue and White.
One example came in form of local businesses – J. Pingitore & Sons Inc. and Jacavone Construction – that donated a driver and heavy hauling vehicle to pull the traditional floats that were designed and decorated by the students in each of the four classes at Johnston High.
Yet another came from Johnston Police Chief Richard S. Taumbrini, who called upon his former employer – the Providence Police Department – to enhance the annual Homecoming Line of March by sending several members of the Mounted Command.
“This is our Rose Bowl Parade,” Tamburini said while welcoming and joining Providence Mounted Command Officers Patty Blake and Dan Famiglietti and their respective mounts, Houlihan and Cassidy, prior to Saturday’s Homecoming Parade.
Perhaps Jerry St. Angelo – a former standout athlete at Cranston West who married Melissa DiLorenzo, a 1984 Johnston High graduate, and has had three children go through and graduate from the Johnston school system – said it best about what transpired during Saturday’s day-long list of events, most especially the parade that attracted another huge crowd of people who lined places like Atwood Avenue to view the Rite of Fall.
“This is what I mean about this town,” said St. Angelo, who has laid each and every brick in the Johnston High School Walk of Fame. “The community spirit in Johnston is unmatched anywhere. Just look at the details in these floats. Each one is special, and the workmanship is unbelievable.”
St. Angelo – whose daughter Katerina is vice president of the freshmen class, plays softball and worked on the class of 2018 float – said the floats are “yet another shining example of just how infectious Panther Pride really is.”
The St. Angelos were vastly impressed with the way first-year teachers Mallory LePere and Natasha Zito pitched in to help class president Lauren Civetti and the class of 2018 with construction of their float, which featured the theme “Pound the Plaid” due to the fact that Johnston’s rivals Saturday were the Mount Pleasant High School Kilties.
Instead of just standing by and taking a cue from more experienced faculty members like Louis DiMaio, LePere and Zito listed, looked, learned and worked just as hard as the students in readying the float for Saturday’s Homecoming Parade.
This year’s parade may have outdone those of previous years and featured a lengthy list of “Who’s Who in Johnston,” from Mayor Joseph Polisena and a host of elected officials to members of the town’s youth football and cheerleading groups to the talented troupe of students who make up the Johnston High School Student Council.
“What a great show,” said Greg Russo, the faculty advisor for the Student Council. “I personally want to thank all the students that participated and their parents, as well as the class advisors and class presidents. This Homecoming is super special.”
It was that way, Russo went on, because “the faculty, staff and even the administration helped make this year’s Homecoming a success – and most especially the Student Council members and president Lauren Petrozzi.”
He applauded senior class president Christian Silva and advisor Louis DiMaio; junior class president Gillian Melikian and advisor Debbie Smythe, sophomore class president Anthony Cabral and advisor Erin Ferraro, and freshman class president Lauren Civetti and advisors Mallory LePere and Natasha Zito.
Homecoming 2014 will be remembered as a day when the class of 2015 won the annual float competition and used the theme “Highland Abduction” for its prize-winning entry.
This year’s festivities will also be remembered for the announcement that the senior class won the recent Battle of the Classes, and for the crowning of Aaron Perfetto and Taylor Russo as King and Queen of Homecoming.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here