What makes a junior grand marshal for the Seal Beach Holiday Christmas Parade? Well, it takes heart, commitment and an impact which extends beyond the single individual, or in this case, two students of Laurel High School.
Alicia Wantuch, 17 and Christina Strickland, 17 never expected to be part of the parade. They expected to work on an intense video editing project which documented the terminal phase of a breast cancer patient – Stephanie Chauvin, 51. Both in Robert Ostmann’s video production class, Alicia first determined she wanted to be part of Stephanie’s videos.
“Since I lost my own mother last year, this project was a recap of my own experience,” she said. “I was able to provide something to her family that I wasn’t able to get – a permanent video diary.”
Christina, joined at the early, formative stage of the project and said the experience opened her eyes. “This was something completely new. I had never dealt with anyone who was terminal or dying. It opened my eyes, especially about my own life.”
The gravity of the project has helped both and shed light on how alternative education students can shine if given a chance. The principal of Laurel, is thankful for the recognition that these students have garnered, “alternative education usually takes a lot of knocks, this kind of award shows the community that our students make a difference, in meaningful ways.”
Both have been recognized in the “Student Spotlight” of Laurel and had an article written as well in the OC Register by Denise Carson, who, like the Parade Committee, recognized the incredible work Alicia and Christina had done.
Stephanie, who died on Nov. 8, has provided a reflective metaphor for both Christina and Alicia. “Sometimes when I am wondering what to do in a given situation, I just pause and ask myself, ‘what would Stephanie do?’ Then it seems pretty easy to make the right choice,” Christina said.
The project work took three and a half weeks and hours of editing time. The three segments can be seen on youtube.com and have in the final section, subtitles. Christina and Alicia added those in. They had to listen to final words from Stephanie to her husband again and again.
Christina said it “forces you to take off your blinders and take a look at the world around you.”
Alicia and Christina both come from close families. Alicia has a brother Andrew, 15 and sister Emma, 5. Christina has three sisters, Julianna, Rachel and Nicole. Coincidentally, both have a great interest in journalism and editing. Likely, this experience has only firmed their resolve to share more stories with others.
They both said they have fond memories of the Seal Beach parade and are thrilled to be part of it. Christina is known by friends and family to even spontaneously burst out singing Christmas carols. All of her friends are coming out to support her as they are the fifth entry of the parade.
Alicia has a passion for the ministry at her church in Corona. She said she is focused on the positive.
“If I have been able to make a difference for Stephanie’s family, then it has provided some closure for me about my mom’s death. I am so happy that we have been able to do that. I never started off thinking anything would come of it, and now I know I made a difference.”
The Seal Beach Christmas/Holiday parade starts at 7 p.m. on Main Street in Seal Beach on Friday, Deac. 3. Come early and you can witness Christina and Alicia help cut the ribbon at Ocean and Main streets in Old Town Seal Beach.
