Several local students will represent Mason County in the upcoming Kentucky governor’s inauguration parade.
The parade will take place on Dec. 10 in Frankfort as a lead in to the swearing in of Democrat Andy Beshear, who will be the next Kentucky governor. The parade typically features floats, bands and several thousands onlookers, according to reports.
This year, it will also feature the Mason County High School Future Career and Community Leaders of America, according to FCCLA adviser Shannon Roberts.
“Mason County Judge-Executive Joe Pfeffer and (Industrial Authority Executive Director) Owen McNeill contacted me about us representing Mason County in the parade,” she said. “It’s such a huge honor and we’re all so excited.”
Roberts said she was unsure of the exact reason the FCCLA students were chosen to be in the parade, but that it may be due to how heavily involved FCCLA is in the community.
According to Meya Myrick, the FCCLA students have partnered with Community Care of Mason County to assist with community food drives and the Thanksgiving boxes that are handed out each year.
“We’ve volunteered at chili suppers, helped to hand out Thanksgiving food boxes and held canned food drives at three of the schools,” she said. “We took three truck loads of food to the food bank from one of our drives.”
Myrick said she was thrilled to know she will be a part of the parade.
“I was surprised at first,” she said. “I didn’t know why we were chosen, but I’m excited about it.”
Erin Hassler said the FCCLA students are also involved in several awareness campaigns, which could also be the reason the organization was chosen to attend the parade.
According to Hassler, the students have worked to raise awareness of sepsis and the Rae of Sunshine organization.
“We’ve worked for the past three years to raise awareness for sepsis. Meya and I did a STAR project on that. We talk to people about the signs and how quickly it can change your life. We are also working on raising awareness of the Rae of Sunshine organization. We had Taylora Schlosser here to speak about that organization, which is named for her daughter, who committed suicide in January. Rae of Sunshine is about mental health awareness and suicide prevention. We also held an assembly to help raise money for Rae of Sunshine recently that went very well.”
Hassler said she is also excited to have been chosen to be in the parade.
“I’m very excited,” she said. “I was at work when (Roberts) first sent me the text. I was confused at first until I kept reading through the message. It’s such an amazing opportunity.”
Roberts said the FCCLA officers and STAR events students will be the ones participating in the parade.
“We’re all excited about it,” she said. “What’s so special about this, to me, is that this was such a hot race and Beshear is a huge proponent of public education, so it just seems fitting that we’ll be representing the school district there. We’re looking forward to being out there in our red blazers.”
