LONGVIEW, Texas — Decorative papel picado and other decorations dressed the cafeteria at Longview ISD's Ware Elementary as students walked in with their traditional costumes this week.
"The goal is to allow students to value traditions, rituals and ceremonies and what better way to do it than having visual representation than what we have today," said Faith Greer, principal at Ware Elementary.
El grupo Baile Folkorico 2000 drove all the way from Dallas to show students at Ware Elementary traditional dances from across Mexico. The group performed dances from the states of Chiapas, Veracruz and Jalisco.
"I would like it to be a tradition here not only at Ware but in the Longview community. And let our learning community know that we value and appreciate their contributions," Greer said.
Students here were left speechless of what this event meant to them at such a young age.
"Just…amazing," said fifth grader Kayleb Rubio
Students were also taught different gritos, or yells, from all over Mexico. Gritos are used to show happiness or joy during a celebration, like a dance expo or a song.
Ware Elementary is a dual language campus and an IB candidate school, where they highlight culturalism in every aspect of their school day.
"Hispanic Heritage Month is not only for Mexico, it’s for Guatemala, Honduras, the Caribbean, Central and South America and they are seeing it from a global perspective," Greer said. "We want our kids to travel anywhere in the world and be knowledgeable of what the value is of being diverse."