She is probably as familiar with the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens as any student in local history, and today Ava Slocum is equally as knowledgeable about the 5.5-mile Rose Parade route.
Those two iconic institutions experienced a harmonic convergence this past Wednesday morning, and the San Marino High School senior was there every step of the way as what is known as a float walker.
“It was really fun,” Ava told The Tribune the following day. “The walk was long but it was easier than I expected it to be, and it was amazing to see all the people who came out and watched.”
Ava, who has volunteered at The Huntington for the past four years, entered an essay writing contest and was selected to accompany The Huntington’s float, entitled “Cultivating Curiosity,” in the annual New Year’s Day spectacular. The float celebrated The Huntington’s centennial and marked the first time since 1969 that the famed local institution participated in the Rose Parade.
At San Marino High School, Ava is a National Merit Semifinalist; editor in chief of Titan Musings, the school’s literary magazine; a Link Crew leader; a member of Advanced Drama and the Comedy Sportz team; founder of the Huntington Club, a humanities appreciation club at SMHS; and a volunteer at The Huntington, where she also spent last summer working on a special project for the volunteer office.
“I was so happy to be able to walk with The Huntington’s float since I’ve volunteered there for four years and loved every minute of it,” said the daughter of Lizze & John Slocum and sister of Will. “It’s been so exciting that The Huntington has had its centennial and its first Rose Parade float in more than fifty years at the same time I was in high school volunteering there.”
The other volunteer float walkers were Max Liu of Oak Avenue Intermediate School in Temple City; Ella Minton, a sophomore at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy;
Claudio Reynoso, a senior at Marshall Fundamental School in Pasadena; and Cameron Yu, a sophomore at Temple City High School.
