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Sophomore Lina G., who is also a summer student with Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in New York, will sing and dance in the opening number for this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. More than 400 Stagedoor Manor students from around the world applied for the opportunity to participate and only 140 were selected for the performance.

After completing the opening number, a new original song written specifically for the 85th anniversary of the famed event, Lina and the group will make their way to the top of the parade route to escort Santa Claus into Herald Square for the finale.

This is a dream come true for Lina, who has been dancing since the age of three. She will join fellow castmates in New York City three days before the parade to learn the entire routine in a quick twenty-four hour rehearsal period.

Kevin Costa, McDonogh's director of fine and performing arts at McDonogh School, describes Lina as a "triple threat." Lina has performed with the Upper School choir, dance ensemble, and theatre lab, while meeting the challenges of McDonogh's rigorous liberal arts curriculum. Outside of school, she dances competitively with the Savage Dance Company in Sykesville.

How does she balance it all? Costa responds, "The answer is passion!"