Drive-by parade celebrates Blaine kindergarten teacher

Community members joined in a drive-by parade on April 25 to show love to Blaine Primary School kindergarten teacher Tricia Hitchcock, who was feeling sad and missing her students while the schools are closed and people are quarantined at home.

Hitchcock, 51, is currently in her 20th year of teaching. She has been a kindergarten teacher in the Blaine school district for 12 years. She is widely admired and valued by her students and their parents, who wanted to do something special for her during this especially difficult period of physical distancing.

Tain Schroeder helped organize the parade. Her son Dallas, now a 10th grader, had Hitchcock in kindergarten. Schroeder has kept in touch with her ever since, and they have developed a special bond over the years. “I’ve stayed in contact with her and we became really good friends,” Schroeder said. “During this whole stay-home thing, we’ve been talking a lot. I was talking to her one day and she was sad and crying and saying she was having a hard time because she missed her kids.”

Schroeder, who moved to Seattle three years ago but still owns a Blaine hair salon, wanted to do something to help cheer up Hitchcock, who she said goes “above and beyond” by constantly checking in on her family. “She’s always making sure that I have food, and that Dallas has things to keep him busy,” Schroeder said.

Hitchcock even gave Dallas some Pocky biscuit sticks when he graduated ninth grade, and after his dog died, she gave him wind chimes decorated with a paw print and poem to hang in the dog’s honor. She’s also stopped by the hair salon to give him candy and cards, and she has asked his mother to save her a ticket for his graduation ceremony in a couple of years.

That’s why Tain Schroeder went onto the “Blaine Moms” Facebook group and suggested an idea to the other parents: if Hitchcock couldn’t see her kids in the classroom, maybe they could bring the kids to her in the form of a parade. “I was shocked how many people were on board,” Schroeder said. It was a Thursday night. On Friday morning, she put together a Facebook invite with all the details.

The parade was scheduled for the following day, Saturday, and to keep it a surprise, Schroeder came up with a cover story. “I just told Tricia that I had a surprise for her and I needed her to be home on Saturday at 3 p.m. for it to be delivered,” she said. Meanwhile, she drove up from Seattle with her son Dallas. They lined up with the parade’s other participants at the corner of H Street and Mitchell Avenue in the school parking lot.

Five minutes before passing her house, Schroeder gave Hitchcock a call saying, “They can’t find you so can you please go outside?” Hitchcock almost didn’t answer the call. “My phone rang, and I don’t usually answer it if I don’t know the number, but it was a 206 number and I thought it’s probably Tain saying she got delayed or something,” Hitchcock said. “I answered it and she said, ‘Come outside on your porch.’ So I went outside.”

Hitchcock didn’t see Tain outside, but she noticed a bunch of her neighbors lined up on the other side of the street. She grew even more confused when she also spotted her mom and dad, who live in Lynden. “My dad said, ‘Where are your shoes?’ I said, ‘They are in my house.’ I didn’t know I was going to be outside!”

That’s when Hitchcock noticed the drive-by parade approaching: “I looked down the street and the little Seahawks truck was there, and the fire truck, and I thought, ‘What is going on?’” In addition to first responders, the parade included dozens of vehicles filled with current and former students, many of whom waved handmade signs and brought gifts out to Hitchcock including flowers and plants, balloons, cards and cookies.

The whole time, Hitchcock cried tears of joy. After the parade, she spent about 45 minutes sitting with Tain and Dallas Schroeder, six feet apart, before they made the drive back down to Seattle. “She was in tears the whole time,” Tain Schroeder said, “and after everyone was gone, she went to go grab me something out of her house and said, ‘I still can’t believe this.’ I replied, ‘Well, you’re kind of a big deal, Tricia.’ She said, ‘I guess I know that now!’”

During the school closures and stay-home order, Hitchcock has been sending weekly notes to her students, including coloring assignments and handmade cards inspired by Mister Rogers, whose videos she often shows to her class after lunch during quiet time. She also sent them cards depicting hedgehogs, because some of her students pronounce her name, “Miss Hedgehog.”

Hitchcock hung up all the signs she received to remember her special parade. “As a kindergarten teacher, these are my people,” she said. “So when I haven’t been able to see them since the 13th of March, it’s hard. I’m used to seeing them every day and hearing their stories about what they did over the weekend.”

A video from the drive-by parade is available on The Northern Light’s Facebook page at facebook.com/TheNorthernLight.