Fishburne Marches in Alexandria’s George Washington Birthday Parade
Article by Cadet Ben Gomez
It was a cloudy day in Alexandria, Virginia, but that didn’t stop Fishburne from shining! After a long three-hour bus ride the cadets went straight to work. It seemed obvious from the beginning that the Band, Staff, Color Guard and the two Drill Teams were focused and would perform wonderfully. The Exhibition team led by Cadet Patrick Guiffre (’12) wowed the crowd with multiple spins and difficult maneuvers, while the Regulation Drill team led by Cadet Jan Przybliski (’11) showed the crowd that along with tricks, Fishburne could not only dazzle the crowd with a rifle but show the precision of a well performed “15-count manual arms.”
The band Led by Cadet Krsna Shukla (’11) did a wonderful job keeping the music going through the whole parade while also getting the crowd involved. Krsna said, “The hours of practice really paid off and we owe a lot to our great band leader Cpt. Wells.”
The Staff and Color Guard did a suburb job leading the core with the utmost precision and military bearing. Fishburne brought home the “1st Place Marching Unit” award. Parade Director George Shumard, who noted that the farthest traveling marching unit, Fishburne, is always a crowd favorite in the country’s largest George Washington birthday celebration. Fishburne thanks Mrs. Shirley Crowder and LTC. Smith, Board of Trustee members for supporting the Caissons, as well as the multiple parents who also gave support to the cadets.
