AI du Pont alumni pay tribute to retiring group director Paul Parets

200 former band members drove out their band director Paul Parets

They played in London, Dublin, Vatican City, New York, Philadelphia and Arizona.

For Presidents and Royals. At the Rose Parade. On Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. In Wilmington and Newark.

And at homecoming Friday night, they returned to AI du Pont High School in Greenville: multiple generations of Tiger marching band members.

This time they played for Paul L. Parets.

Mr. P., as he was called by many of them, died on October 13 at the age of 82. He was director of the Tiger Marching Band for 36 years until he retired in 2012. , pom-pom and silk troops all over the world, all over the country, or just all over the area, performing hundreds of shows.

But his legacy will not be where he led his students, but rather showing where they can go.

“He did so much and touched the lives of so many people, not just those in the band,” said Tony Brown, a 1997 graduate. “There are so many students here at AI who have walked the halls who have been touched by him or who have inspired them.”

During his senior year, Brown was a drummer. He reprized that role this week, leading the alumni group in rehearsal on Wednesday and during the halftime performance on Friday. The performance was a tribute to the teacher who, in a sense, inspired them all.

“He (Parets) would say ‘thank you’ because it just shows how far he reaches, how it has affected everyone. All he taught us is do it big, do it loud, do it right. That’s it,” Brown said, repeating AI du Pont’s mantra: “We have one goal and one goal only: to be the best.”

Tanja Standarowski was not a member of the group, but she was a student of Parets’s class of 1992. She returned as a colleague, joining him in the social sciences department in 2006, seeing him as a student and peer.

Parets had the same influence on children as a student as she did when he retired in 2012, she said.

“Paul was one of those people who could reach out and touch this child who just needed that little word,” she said, “or give advice that the kids followed, and really took these lost children under his wing.” .

Parets’ presence was felt throughout the evening, as evidenced by a cut-out life-size photograph of Parets greeting visitors at the gate, reflecting the spirit of the evening, which included approximately 200 band alumni.

One of them was Stephen Kellogg, a 1977 graduate. He was a member of the band during Parets’ freshman year and witnessed the immediate impact Parets made. The director increased the number of band members from 90 or so to more than 300 in just a few years after a difficult year under different management.

“He (Parets) took over us in one day,” Kellogg said of the changes that came with Parets taking over. “What he brought back was the spirit, the heart of the group.”

Kellogg hasn’t played trumpet since graduating from high school during the Carter administration, when the band played in Carter’s inaugural parade.

But now he’s giving the instrument another chance. “We’ll see if I can stick with it now,” said Kellogg, who wears his old university letter lettering on his new gold and blue jacket.

Colin Hutt, a 2008 drum major, said he thought Parets would be proud of the performance.

“Mr. Parets expected this because he expected us to always be great,” Hutt said. “That’s what he instilled in us.”

Roxana Dubin played sousaphone in the group for four years and graduated in 2006. She returned Friday and used the same word others have used to describe Parets’ reaction to the performance: proud.

“I think he would be very proud. He would be very proud of what happened here today,” Dubin said. “He was just a great guy. He made sure everyone was at their best.”

Jessica Burton graduated in 2009 and returned in 2013 to assist the group after Parets left. She said its leadership structure, which allows students to speak their minds, has been part of its success.

“His idea of creating a student-led organization, even to this day, was such a far cry to let older people take charge, and he created this organization that relies heavily on passing on information,” Burton said. . “So the freshmen learn from the sophomores; sophomores learn from juniors; the younger ones learn from the older ones… so by the time you reach your senior year, you’ll be ready to take over.”

The school’s declining enrollment has made it more difficult to assemble a full-fledged marching band, as it was in Parets’ time. Today’s Tigers are featuring members of the McKean High School student orchestra to bolster their ranks. It is also more difficult to field a football team: only 16 AI Du Pont players were in uniform at the start of the match.

The Glasgow school may have given the Tigers football problems in the first half, but the crowd – and it was a crowd – didn’t seem to care as a group of alumni took to the field.

Cheers greeted the band before the game as they walked into the stadium. More cheers greeted them as they lined up after the break and then walked onto the field to the sound of drums.

After a crisp rendition of “Olympic Spirit,” then the school’s fight song, the band gathered around drummer Brown to hit the final note.

“Hey band… we have one goal and one goal only: to be the best!” Brown shouted into the stands, repeating Parets’ slogan, which was printed on their uniform T-shirts.

His fellow graduates echoed, “What else is there?”

Brown stepped off his drum platform and high-fived everyone who passed by as the band left the field.

“I’m still a little shaken,” he said, then assessed the performance as band members lingered on the sidelines, watching the group photo.

“I gave the band two goals – to make people remember who we are: this is the AI Tiger Marching Band. We’re not going anywhere. There’s a lot of heritage here,” Brown said. “And secondly, kudos to Mr. Parets, and I think we did it. I know we did it. The energy is still here. These guys don’t want to leave the field.”