Milford High School’s First State Heritage Park Club was recently honored by an invitation to march in the Navy Marines 250th Homecoming celebration. According to advisor, Amanda Cinque, the students were invited after they participated I the 2025 4th of July Parade in Philadelphia.
“It was pretty cool being around all the military people and watching them do call outs,” Julian Collaco said. “It was really cool to see them be so organized and moving as a whole unit.”
The First State Heritage Park Club began when Cinque accepted the position at the high school. She was able to bring together the students with First State Heritage Park, a state park located on The Green in Dover.
“The club originally started due to student interest in learning more about Dover and the staff at FSHP were extremely helpful and welcomed the opportunity to work with student volunteers. In recent years, we created a middle school chapter at MCA to continue to build and expand the club.”
The students participate in a variety of community events, ranging from parades to festivals and school events with the goal of sharing Delaware history. They also assist with state park programming as needed. This month, they assisted the Time Traveler’s with an archeology dig at White Creek Clay Park. Once a year, the students research, design and deliver a historical program at First State Heritage Park. When asked how the Navy Marines parade compared to others, the students echoed each other.
“It was a lot bigger, and I mean a LOT bigger,” Sierra McMullen said.” There were a lot more people in the parade and watching.
When asked why the students decided to join the club, several joked that it was “good peer pressure.” McMullen stated that she wanted to be a history teacher someday. Isabella Valentine was interested in politics which she felt was connected to history.
“I like history because I want to be able to recognize patterns in the future, kind of like Isabella, and recognizing that some things may be repeating themselves,” Collaco said. “I want to be able to know which side I should choose, which side I shouldn’t choose or whether I should choose a side at all.”
Collaco also liked that the club taught fourth graders about history, playing games that were popular in the past. He pointed out that some of the children knew a few games, like “Duck Duck Goose,” but did not know about others that children played many years ago.
“I think it is really cool to see them genuinely interested,” Collaco said. “I think it is good that they can turn away from electronics and be interested in real games. I think that is really important and special.”
The students often wear period costumes when the participate in events. When asked how they felt about the clothing they wore, McMullen commented that it was a “love-hate relationship.”
“It is cool to wear the costumes, but they can get hot and then, if you are short like I am, the dress gets under your feet,” McMullen said. “You have to hike it up every time you move. In the parade, we had to walk over a mile and the ground was wet, so I had to keep holding the dress up so it would not get wet.”
Justin Tran agreed that although the clothing could be uncomfortable, it was an important part of the club.
“It makes the experience more immersive, and it makes me feel like I am living in that time,” Tran said. “I get to feel how those people used to feel when they dressed in those clothes and did their daily tasks.”
The girls all stated they had a new respect for their ancestors who had to wear those clothes every day.
The club will participate in the Holiday Stroll, Woodburn Illuminated and Santa’s Workshop. They participated in Haunted Hallways with some of them wearing 18th century clothing. They will be present at the Heritage Festival in Dover as well.
“We did three parades in one week,” Cinque said. “We did the 250 parade in Philly, then the Community Parade and Homecoming Parade all in one week.”
Earlier this year, some of the club members participated in a Mock Continental Congress at Legislative Hall.
“We debated a bunch of other students from different schools,” Collaco said. “We made up debates about popcorn and what the state food should be. It was really cool because we followed all the procedures they do in Congress and in actual hearings. It was fun imagining myself with all that power.”
Next year, the club will be marching in the 4th of July parade in Philadelphia, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States. They have also applied to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York next year.
