![Join WSPN’s Marissa Mendoza, Edge Wheeler, Ainsley Jay, Bowen Morrison and Sofia Ciciarelli as they cover seniors’ involvement in the election and the viewpoint from a WHS educator. “[The election is] a really toxic environment,” WHS history teacher Katherine Bassen said. “It would be disingenuous for me to say, ‘oh, everything's going great.’ Obviously it's not, right?”](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_0282-1-1200x800.jpg)
![The Boy Scouts will be selling trees on Fridays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays noon to 6 p.m. until they sell out.
“This event is one of the things that [the Boy Scouts] get to have a direct impact on the community,” freshman Alex Macleod said.](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-11-at-8.38.38 AM.png)
On Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day, the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) Minuteman Marching Band performed in the streets of New York City. The college marching band was one of 11 bands selected to perform at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in a large pool of marching bands.
In the sea of 403 UMass Minuteman Marching Band members, Wayland High School (WHS) Class of 2023 alum Thomas Creavin played the clarinet. Creavin is a current sophomore at UMass and performed in WHS’s orchestral band.
“It was a really cool experience to be able to [perform] in front of so many people [at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade],” Creavin said. “It went so fast because we only had 75 seconds [on camera].”
Creavin first began his career in band as a fourth grader at Claypit Hill Elementary School. He picked the clarinet because his parents told him he needed an instrument that could fit on the bus. In high school, Creavin worked under WHS band teacher Joseph Oneschuck. Oneschuck was also a member of the UMass Minuteman Marching Band.
“One of my biggest goals as a music educator is to have my students keep playing after they leave WHS,” Oneschuck said. “I hope to instill the passion and ability to keep playing and growing in all my students. Playing music is a lifelong skill, [and Creavin] was a great clarinetist while he was here. He was always hard working, responsible, fun to work with and paid attention to all the small details in the music.”
Creavin joined the UMass marching band his freshman year of college after deciding he wanted to continue his career in sharing his music. In high school, Creavin made positive impressions on his peers, like WHS Class of 2024 alum Ayush Kumar, who played clarinet alongside Creavin during their overlapping time at WHS.
“[Creavin] was pretty cool to have in the band because he was nice,” Kumar said. “He was a year older than me, so it was nice to have someone who has been playing for a little longer. I could learn from him and everything.”
The last time UMass was selected to perform for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was in 2013. The selection process involved each band conductor sending in videos of their respective bands. After being selected, bands rehearsed before the televised live performance.
“A lot of [practicing] was coordinating our run because we had to get from the start line behind where the cameras were, all the way on to the star with 400 people,” Creavin said. “We have to [practice] because we only have 75 seconds once we get the queue to go, so we had to figure out how to get people on as quickly as possible.”
In addition to getting the right rhythm for the parade, the UMass marching band marched on the football field repeatedly during practices in order to build endurance for the three mile long march they would have to do during the parade. The band played the songs “Fight Mass” and “God Bless America” on loop while marching. Once the camera panned to the marching band, they performed “This Will Be” written by UMass alum Natalie Cole.
“On Monday evening we had a dress rehearsal with NBC [News] because they [wanted] to make sure their cameras were in the right spot for Thursday,” Creavin said. “We practiced with them on the street [that] they closed down [for the parade].”
After practicing with NBC, the bandmates spent time doing a dress rehearsal and exploring the streets of New York City. The group then gathered for a formal dinner the night before the parade. On the day of the parade, the marching band woke up at around 3 a.m. since they had to arrive at the event early that morning.
“It was raining the day [of the parade],” Creavin said. “We got to the parade around 6:30 a.m. and then we were just waiting outside for a while where all the balloons were. It was just a lot of waiting at that point and then we got into the parade at around 9 a.m..”
The marching band began working on the routine for the Macy’s Day Parade in October. On the day of the Macy’s Day Parade, the UMass marching band appeared on NBC News at 10:15 a.m..
“I didn’t ever feel that much pressure because the routine itself wasn’t too complicated,” Creavin said. “Because I did it so many times, I felt super confident about the routine.”
