On most weekday nights, the ticking of a metronome rings out across the University of Massachusetts Amherst athletic fields, followed by the music of the “Power and Class of New England,” the UMass Amherst Minutemen Marching Band.

Although the band and baton twirlers marched in the parade in 2013, this year, the 21-member dance team will join them on Thanksgiving Day in New York City.

A junior biochemistry student at Bridgewater College, Parks is 19 years old and has been twirling batons since she could toddle. Though she has participated in Christmas parades before in her hometown of Poquoson, this is the biggest parade she has ever been in.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst marching band is headed to New York this week to perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The UMass band is one of 11 chosen for the huge televised event.