After two years off, Annapolis High resurrects homecoming parade

Shopkeepers on Main Street in Annapolis yesterday heard the homecoming parade long before it reached their doorsteps.

And by the time the string of decorated cars full of students wound around to appear at Church Circle, the sound was unmistakable.

"I got a feeling that A-High is in this house!" shouted members of Steppaz, Annapolis High School's step team, over car horns and band music as they stomped through the city.

The parade was the first that Annapolis High has held since 2006; for the past two years the event has been rained out, said Principal Don Lilley.

But this year the weather held off long enough for students to take to the streets in a rousing - and some said much-needed - display of school spirit.

After years of failing to measure up on state tests, Annapolis High finally exited the state's watch list of troubled schools in September. Now, students and faculty said they're proud of Maryland's capital city high school, and at the homecoming parade they planned to show it.

"It goes with everything the school has done to change its reputation from a not-so-good one to a positive one," said English teacher Damien Scott. "I think kids realize this is a place they can be proud of."

At 5 p.m., the parade began assembling along Calvert Street, a long line of cars painted with "Don't you want to be Class of '13?" and "Go Panthers!" for the school's mascot.

Superintendent Kevin Maxwell joined the parade in a horse-drawn carriage, and county budget officer John Hammond drove his antique fire truck.

The seniors wore matching T-shirts and the cheerleaders donned their warm-up uniforms. Lots of students threw candy to bystanders as they drove, and the Green Club picked up trash along the parade route while carrying a sign that read, "Smells like Green spirit."

Wearing a red beret, Nicholas Wentworth, 16, explained that the baguette he wielded would tell Annapolitans, "That French Club rocks."

More than ever this year, organizers tried to work the community into their parade, Lilley said, and so the Annapolitan Corvette Club, the Stanton Community Center and the Annapolis Sons of the Signers joined in.

"We want everybody involved," Lilley said.

During "spirit week" last week, students prepped for the parade by dressing differently each day. Most notably, Thursday's theme was "As Seen On TV," and the senior class dressed as Disney's 101 Dalmatians while their class advisor dressed as the movie's evil character Cruella De Vil, said senior class president Noa Davidson.

"This is really fun because the kids get to show their school spirit," she said, wearing twin stickers stuck under her eyes, like eye black on a football player, that read "Seniors."

"Our school gets a lot of negative press, and this shows the community we're a really positive school."

The turnout was light, but that didn't dampen the student's spirits. Besides, later that night, they found more cause for celebration when their Panthers defeated the South River High School Seahawks football team, 37 to 14.

"It's great for Annapolis, and it's great for the students," said Cynthia McBride, owner of McBride Gallery on Main Street, as she watched from her shop's front stoop. "The parades are part of the life of the city. It's the state capital, it's everybody's hometown."