POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The school community at G. Harold Antrim Elementary School held its annual Hispanic Heritage Night last week, inviting the town to celebrate Hispanic cultures with a night of food, fun and togetherness.
This year marks the third Hispanic Heritage Night celebration at the school. As in the past two years, Mercedes Wall, ESL (English as a second language) teacher at Antrim, co-organized the event with Spanish teacher Alicia Fernandez.
Wall told The Ocean Star a bit about the event’s history at the school.
“We started this three years ago during Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15),” she said. “We put together something that was very organic; we wanted just to invite the families to come in and to share a little something about themselves — whether there was food or some decorations — so we could just gather together. And the first year was quite impressive – we had over 200 people come, and ever since then we’ve had consistently over 200 people come to the event.”
“The families were so open and excited to do this because it was an opportunity to share their heritage and their culture and traditions,” said Wall. “It’s such a fun night. We had so many parents bring tons of food, tons of decorations and a great level of positivity and happiness for this night. And we were able to, once again, celebrate and be proud of who we are — they were proud of who they are — and we just enjoyed that that night together.”
Wall said that, as an ESL teacher, one of her greatest responsibilities is being an advocate for students and families. She explained that Hispanic Heritage Night gives them the opportunity to share their culture with the broader community.
“My number one thing that I need to do is advocate for the families that I serve,” she said, “and I want to empower them and give them a voice, because that is what’s going to help their children’s education. That is going to help them — and us as a community — be stronger. So for them to be part of our school community and to produce greatness here like we do every year is very empowering and very beautiful and it makes everyone feel like we are together.”
“That feeling of empowerment…is so powerful in getting our students to be positive about who they are, and positive about learning and wanting to keep working hard,” Wall said. “All of it is tied together into a positive educational experience for the kids and a sense of bonding with the community.”
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