Ypsilanti tap dancers Marius House and Daniel Grimes perform during the National African American Parent Involvement Day program.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Students from six Washtenaw County school districts tap-danced, twirled and sang their way into the hearts of parents and other audience members Monday night with the seventh annual NAAPID Night Showcase of Talent.

What’s become the annual nightcap of National African American Parent Involvement Day - held the second Monday of February to encourage parents to spend the day in school with their children - NAAPID at Night lets parents who can’t take a day off work participate in the celebration, said Shoshana DeMaria, chair of NAAPID at Night.

Close to 500 people attended this year’s NAAPID at Night, held at Skyline High School. 

“Many parents didn’t have personal time or sick time and couldn’t leave their jobs,” said Yvonne Dulin, a NAAPID organizer. “But they still wanted to show their love and concern.”

For many of the student performers, the night was a chance to shine in the floodlights. 

Dayna Gooden, 16 and a Huron High School junior, has been dancing since she was 3 years old - when her mother thought it was cute “to have a little ballerina in a big tutu,” she said. But Gooden is too busy with school to find much time to perform modern dance anymore. Monday was her chance. 

“I like being on stage, it’s like being another person,” she said. “This gives parents and students a chance to bond. It’s important for parents to support their kids.”

It also pulls the community together, said Haley Williams, 16, a member of the Saline Twirlettes who attends Saline High School. 

“We get to be here at this beautiful school, and it brings all of the schools together. It’s an incredible thing to do,” she said.

Elementary to high school students from the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Willow Run, Lincoln Consolidated, Milan and Saline school districts participated. They recited poetry, played violin solos and danced to jazz.

This was the first year Saline Schools has participated, said Steve Lastsch, assistant superintendent for instruction. While the school district has few African American students - about 130 of the district’s 5,700 students are black - it was important for Saline to join in, Lastsch said. 

“We wanted to support a worthy event, and we wanted to increase awareness,” he said. Saline High School will host next year’s NAAPID at Night.

NAAPID, founded 15 years ago by Joe Dulin, then-principal of Ann Arbor’s Roberto Clemente High School, has spread to 47 states - along with Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia and beyond. While NAAPID encourages parents of all children to spend a day in school, it focuses on African American families as a tool to help close the achievement gap. 

“It opens the door for African American parents,” DeMaria said.

NAAPID at Night gave 7-year-old twins Noah and Jacob Davis from Milan the chance to wear ties - red for Jacob and black for Noah. Between the two, they were wearing the school colors of Paddock Elementary, which presented a vocal ensemble of music from “The Lion King.”

Their father, Todd, was happy to be there.

“Anything that promotes kids’ activities after school is great,” he said. “Parent involvement is a good thing.”

Members of the third-grade Super SIngers of Mitchell Elementary sing onstage as part of the student talent show during the National African American Parent Involvement Day program at Skyline on Monday night.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Janet Miller is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.