This Monday, the city of Leander hosted the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade, which began at 11 a.m. at Camacho Elementary and ended in Old Town Leander. Citizens from across the community joined together to participate, from high school students to local vendors and businesses who set up stands at the event to visit. 

“Being able to go to the MLK parade and represent Glenn and the diversity we have here and get insight on other clubs in and around the Austin area is not only good exposure for us, but also good for those organizations,” senior president of the Black Student Union, Johanna Henderson said.

The Glenn student body participated in the march through student organizations such as the Black Student Union, National Honor Society, and the basketball team in order to support the community.

“I thought it was really nice of everyone to show up and show support to MLK,” Henderson said. “He plays such a big part in American history and there’s a lot that goes deeper into him than what you learn in school, so I think it was really nice and supportive of the other groups there. I feel like I could’ve seen more black culture, so if there could’ve been a little bit more exposure, if people would have known a little bit more about what happened and about the man behind it in general. There was more history and culture behind they way that everyone walks, that everyone is represented, I feel like it would’ve been a lot more impactful.”

Participating clubs raised posters and handed out candy to passing by people while walking along the parade path.

“I know that we do it every year and its such a good way for all the schools to be involved,”  senior treasurer of National Honor Society Sophia Pham said. “NHS does do a lot of community events, but it’s a big event, I didn’t realize how big it was till I went and its good for NHS to be involved in it, a lot of other schools were there and it was good representation. I didn’t realize that so many different schools and all of their clubs were there, it was cool. I thought it was just going to be us and a couple of others like BSU and Basketball, but it was cool for all of the students to be there and showing support.”

Many students visited and stayed behind to enjoy the event, eat some food from the food trucks and visit vendor tents.

“It was an event I was already planning to go to, so I wanted to volunteer and thought it would be cool to be apart of the parade,” senior member of National Honor Society, Dulce Maycock said. “It was good to see the community get together.” 

Speeches and singing were going on the the main stage of the event in Old Town Leander and people were celebrating the togetherness of the community as a whole.

“Because Glenn is so diverse, we all have different cultures and experiences, so if everyone were to get together and just show more appreciation for this,” Henderson said. “Glenn is the most diverse school in LISD, full of a lot of traditions and culture, and so to be able to show that in the school and not just the predominantly white culture would be really great. BSU is a great start, along with the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (APPI) club and Spanish Honor Society. Because we have more exposure to these groups, I feel like we can make a lot more impact, not only in this school, but also in the district and city. If we’re gonna do it, let’s do it everyday. Let’s hear these people’s voices.”