Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools elementary schoolers are on parade this month to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic Heritage Month parades are a staple of the September and October calendars at many of the district’s elementary schools. Students don costumes, make banners, and play music as they march around their schools and represent a country they’ve been learning about in class, sometimes one their own teachers or classmates hail from. It’s a cheerful way to cap off a unit in the classroom that gets everyone on campus excited.
“I liked it when we got to walk around in a big circle and I like that we got to dance,” said First Grader Brenner Mills. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to be in a parade before.”
The festivities aren’t restricted to students and staff. At schools like Walkertown Elementary School and Speas Global Elementary School, students’ families are invited to see the displays and take photos during the parades. Many parents find themselves learning a lot more about cultures represented in their neighborhoods when they see what their students have put together for the parades.
“It’s beautiful,” said Yoanna Sanchez, a parent at Speas. “It’s a multicultural experience where we all get to learn a little more about each other.”
Whether it’s Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Colombia, Peru, or dozens of other countries of origin for Hispanic families in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, there’s a rich history of food, music, sports, visual arts, civics, engineering, government, and more to discover about international cultures every year during Hispanic Heritage Month and beyond. The parades are just one expression of how much students are learning about the world – and what a good time they’re having while they learn.
“All of our students value the fact that they come from a unique country,” said Diggs-Latham Elementary School ESL Teacher Abadesa Ochoa. “They can see the similarities and the differences and celebrate them both, and that brings us all closer together.”