Greater Lowell Technical High School's “Barbie and Ken's Down Home Holiday” float won an award for being the most creative in the Lowell City of Lights Parade. (Courtesy of Greater Lowell Tech)
TYGSBORO — Students from multiple stores at Greater Lowell Technical High School worked together to create a Barbie-themed float for November's Lowell City of Lights Parade.
The float, titled “Barbie and Ken's Down Home Holiday,” won an award for being the most creative of the parade.
Students from Painting and Design, Carpentry, Design and Visual Communications, Graphic Communications, Plumbing, and Electrical Shop all worked in teams to create the floats over several weeks.
The float, one of dozens participating in the city's annual parade, was worked on by second, third and fourth graders.
Students used the skills they learned in class to create floats and also learned how to collaborate with students studying other disciplines as part of a festival project.
“Barbie” was chosen as the theme for 2023 because the “Barbie” movie was a big hit this summer, and carpentry instructor Patrick Couillard said he thought it would be interesting for students to make such colorful floats. Because I thought it would be a challenge.
Instructor Mike Donahue's painting and design students were key to this effort. The Barbie-themed float called for lots of pink and multi-tone colors and was a fun project for the students.
Carpentry instructor Mike Murphy and his students were responsible for cutting out the convertible Corvette that is part of the hero and float, and Brad Taylor of Plant Services helped provide sound and lighting, as well as the Greater Lowell I drove a truck for a technical high school. I pulled a float during the parade.
Paul Morash, an in-house electrician, also assisted with final preparations on the day of the parade and drove a vehicle as a security escort during the parade.
Electrical instructor Eric Weed, plumbing instructor Genuino Mendonca, graphic communications instructor Sergio Rijo, and masonry instructor Dan Hagan and their students also played important roles in the construction of the floats.
“This year's float was amazing and I am so proud of the way our students and instructors worked together to create it,” said Superintendent Jill Davis. “The City of Lights Parade is always a great event, and we are so proud that our students were able to present their work to the city of Lowell and its residents in such a festive way.”
