As an Ozobot dragged the Mike Wazowski float across the lined road in the middle of the Stafford Intermediate School media center, with a makeshift New York City as its backdrop, nobody would have ever known Mike almost didn’t make it to the final show.

“We used pipe cleaners as part of the float,” explained Leeanna Tuomey, one of three students involved in bringing Mike from Monsters Inc. to the forefront for the Ozobot Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 24.