CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Last year KRIS 6 News reporter Naidy Escobar told the story of Alaiya Lemos, a student at West Oso High Schoolwho made it to perform at the NYC Thanksgiving parade.
She was the first ever student at West Oso to make it to be a part of this iconic parade. This year she was chosen again to participate, but this time with her entire team.
Last year, when KRIS spoke to Alaiya, she said she wanted to inspire other girls—- and she did just that.
“It makes me feel good like, oh, they see me do it, and now they want to get out there and do it for themselves, so I am really happy for them. I feel good because it's like I made an impact on my team and the people at my school too," she said.
The dance team is not sponsored by the school, so many of the girls have to pay out of pocket for uniforms or any extra events that they might want to attend.
This year, her entire team got invited to participate in the parade. Anyone who would like to participate has to pay out of pocket and last year she had fundraisers with her church and was able to raise the funds.
Unfortunately, this year, the money that was fundraised for her trip ended up going toward expenses for her grandmother, who recently had a stroke.
"It's my senior year, and I wanted Alaiya to go with me; we were planning it together," dance team captain and senior Isabella Maravilla said.
“There were things that happened with the health of a family member, and that took precedence. The things that they would’ve been doing to help her, they had to refocus and help out a family member, “ team sponsor Stephenie Rhodes said.
Rhodes added that this opportunity for the girls is life-changing. She said this opportunity even gives the younger girls to look up to the girls in high school.
"To go and to be with other girls from other places and do they same thing they love to do and that is the beauty of it they get to see how diverse it is," she said.
But, unfortunately, this year, she won’t make it to the Big Apple,
“It’s kind of tough because sometimes, after practice, I have to go straight home to take care of my grandma,“ she said.
And it wasn't difficult for her to decide to help her grandmother out.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision because I want my grandmother to get the help that she needs and I already knew that it was all about granny and trying to make her better," she added.
“I think we are all devastated cause she already went once, and I feel like she could help in our experience, but it's going to be okay. We know she is there with us in spirit, " West Oso junior Isabella Pantoja said.
Many on her team said that Lemos is very empowering and motivated. She is always there to make sure that everyone is feeling comfortable and is doing what they are supposed to.
She is a great leader, and she hopes to continue to do what she loves to do—- dance.
And as KRIS 6 News reported last year, Alaiya’s grandmother is one of her biggest supporters, and although she said it's tough not seeing her grandmother out at every game, she knows she is still at home rooting for her.
"I really like do all of this for her and just want to make her proud, and right now that she is sick, I just want to give her hope that she still okay and she still is alright," she said.
As for her teammates, she wishes them the very best and to always remember to have fun.
Lemos said this year she would work harder to be able to make it again next year and possibly take her grandmother to the parade.
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