For Immediate Release

Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Greater Lowell Tech Students’ “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Themed Float wins City of Lights 2019 Mayor’s Award

Greater Lowell is Best of Parade!

LOWELL — Superintendent Joseph Mastrocola is pleased to share that the “Charlie Brown Christmas” themed float built by Greater Lowell Tech students won the Mayor’s Award for Best of Parade at the 31st Annual City of Lights Holiday Parade earlier today.

Thousands of spectators attended the parade Saturday in downtown Lowell, which featured various floats, music, marching bands and performances. 

“Students always look forward to the challenge of designing and building a float for the parade, which provides a special opportunity for them to collaborate with peers in other technical programs and showcase their hard work to the public,” Superintendent Mastrocola said. “It’s also a fun, festive project that allows students to celebrate the holidays, use their creativity and skills and contribute to a meaningful community event.”

Students and staff began planning their design for the float in early October, which depicted various scenes from the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” television special and featured “Lucy’s Snow Globe Stand” in honor of the parade’s theme: Festival of Snow Globes. The entire project was overseen by carpentry instructor Patrick Couillard.

Carpentry students at the school framed all of the wooden structures of the float, installed lighting and detailed the trim; CADD students used Peanut character illustrations to create a file for the carpentry CNC cutting machine; Painting and Design students painted the float’s structure and characters; Electrical students wired all of the lighting and generator connections; and Plumbing students threaded the rod fixture holders for the props and speaker stands on the float.

“The project required teamwork and helped me gain a better understanding of having to work with other trades on a project,” said Brady Huard, a senior, of Dracut, who helped frame the float and build the Snoopy house and snow globe stand. 

As students worked with peers from various programs on the float, they also gained a better understanding of what it is like to work with subcontractors.

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