The gym at the South
Orange Middle School was filled with excited chatter on Saturday morning
as 62 seventh- and eighth- graders arrived, proudly wearing their bright
red “MLK CLUB” T-shirts to march in a
parade later that morning.
Billed as the South Orange Appreciation Parade and sponsored by Seton
Hall for its annual University Day, this year the parade was led by
Village President Doug Newman as the grand marshal — driving a scooter.
The middle school students, not far behind, marched eight abreast and
represented their school, the MLK Club and
the South Orange Historical Preservation Society, for which some of the
students carried banners.
Lexi Hellerman, an eighth-grader, had a great time walking the route of
the parade from the middle school to the university, straight down South
Orange Avenue, with her friends from the club. |
 Photo
courtesy of
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“It was fun,” she said. “It was
kind of cool to be able to represent everybody.”
It was also particularly satisfying for the students to have the
opportunity to visit the university just two weeks after three busloads
of the college students swarmed onto the middle school campus to team up
with students there to help beautify the school, as a part of the
university’s volunteer day, SHU 500+.
“The kids felt special because the Seton Hall students had just visited
their school,” said Johanna Wright, faculty advisor for the Martin
Luther King Club. “Now it was their turn to visit Seton Hall and while
they were there they did run into some of the students they had already
made contact with at South Orange Middle.”
Once the parade wound its way down to the university, the middle
schoolers found plenty to do.
“We went to booths, and we got our names written in other languages,”
Lexi said. “It was fun.”
More than 60 booths were set up featuring a dizzying array of student
organizations and many community groups as well.
“This is the first year we named the parade South Orange Appreciation
Parade,” said Jennifer O’Sheal, direc¬tor of special events. “This year
we really tried to focus on the community … being a neighbor, we wanted
to let them know that we welcome them.”
It was clear from the smiles everyone shared a warm feeling of
camaraderie and community spirit.
The community also felt welcomed by the fact that almost everything
offered to the public was free of charge — continuous music performed by
five local bands; two performances of “Snow White” at the Theatre-in-the¬Round;
children’s activities, including arts and crafts, pumpkin painting and
scarecrow stuffing; and the adult lec¬ture series, were all offered to
the pub¬lic at no charge.
The only item which required a reach into a pocket was lunch, but some
even managed to find a free pie give-away at one of the booths.
Monsignor Richard Liddy, director of the center for Catholic studies,
was having such a great time that he suggested having several University
Days per year, maybe even once a month.
“It’s wonderful,” Liddy said. “I was thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if
we did this regularly?’ “ Colleen Liddy, a Maplewood resi¬dent and
Liddy’s niece, was nearby, wheeling her baby in a stroller, also
enjoying the day.
“I think it’s great,” Colleen Liddy said. “People in South Orange don’t
always have the greatest impression of Seton Hall students, so I think
it’s great to see them coming and being nice to each other and not
causing trouble.”
Stacey Jennings, a member of the South Orange Board of Trustees enjoyed
the day with her 9-year-old daughter, Sydney. “We did rides. We did
human bowling. We had lunch and now we came to make a scarecrow,”
Jennings said. “So far it’s the one program that brings all of our
community families together — the staff, the alumni, the students, the
community of families within South Orange, the clubs, the South Orange
Middle School and the South Orange Historical Preservation Society all
par¬ticipate — from the parade throughout the day.
“The middle-schoolers are here in their red T shirts, the trustees get
to be here with their families. I think it stands for the collaboration
that we always wanted and always look for. Hopefully we’ll do more
things like this as a community.”
Wright agrees that University Day was a day for joining together. “It
was just a good day to link up with the university and the community,”
Wright said. “The students were so proud to be students of South Orange
Middle and just celebrating South Orange.”
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Copyright (c)2007 Worrall Community Newspapers, Inc,
Edition 10/11/2007
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