FORT WALTON BEACH — Cultures melded into a celebration Thursday evening at Edwins Fine & Performing Arts School.
View a photo gallery from the event >>
For nearly three hours students, their families, teachers and some residents celebrated with dance, music and food during the Hispanic Heritage Celebration.
“It’s a wonderful event with lots of lights and food and people,” said former student Abby Coyle as she enjoyed a virgin piña colada.
Now in its third year, the event was conceived by the school’s interpreter, Waleska Bruno, to bridge the gap between the school’s large Hispanic population and the rest of the students.
“I want my Latin kids and parents to feel better about their culture,” Bruno said. “This helps make them proud of who they are.”
Right now, almost 50 students at Edwins are English Language Learners, she said.
Even as those students feel encouraged to share their background, students like fifth-grader Charisma Payne was excited about it as well.
“I learned their dances,” she said with a smile as she twirled in a festive skirt and top.
Thursday’s event wrapped up a week’s worth of activities to explore Hispanic culture.
In art classes students made items such as piñatas and studied Hispanic artists. In P.E. they learned dances like the salsa. In music they learned Spanish-language songs, which they sang at the end of Thursday’s event.
“It’s awesome,” fifth-grader Brianna Gavenda said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
