MERIDEN - Hispanic Heritage Month came to an end Thursday during the season's first and untimely snow fall, but not without causing a big stir at Lincoln Middle School.

Minority students make up more than half of the school's 700 students and Hispanics alone comprise 40.5 percent of the student body, which includes 31 percent who come from homes where English is not the primary language.

Given the diverse ethnic makeup, Assistant Principal Lysette Torrez thought it would be fitting to design a program to celebrate the various cultures and educate the student body at the same time.

"Our goal really is just to portray the Hispanic culture - a good number of our students are Hispanics," said Torrez, Thursday at Hispanic Heritage Night, an event she introduced last year which drew more than 200 students, faculty and families to "Times Square," the long corridor modeled after Manhattan's major midtown intersection in the school building that opened in 2005.

Tables lined the hall with booths representing 20 different Spanish-speaking countries where students researched and displayed facts, food and representative items. Local restaurants chipped in as well, providing authentic lechón or roasted pork, rice and desserts galore. Platt High School students, former Lincoln band members, returned to play music underneath a slide show presentation of Hispanic facts.

"What's wonderful about this event today is that there are so many non-Hispanics here," said Margarita Ogorzalek, a retired eighth-grade teacher, of the diverse crowd.

Each school honors Hispanic Heritage in its own unique way, School Superintendent Mary N. Cortright said. At Lincoln, "It's just another great community event," Cortright said. "It's wonderful to see families here together; students are here telling their families about the countries."

Seventh-grader Klarissa Galarza and four of her classmates shared facts about Chile as they manned the booth and spoke of early settlers who were in search of gold in the South American country. Glaraza passed out miniature empanadas she made at home, a common Chilean fried pastry with meat filling.

Police Sgt. Hector Cardona enjoyed a plate of food before he took to the stage with his wife, Sarah, and son, Hector Cardona Jr. and Hanover School Principal Miguel Cardona. Once the Cardona Family Band began to play "music from the islands" or old Spanish songs, half of those in attendance gathered around the family, swaying and dancing. But that was only the warm-up before the real oohs and ahs when school Principal Leo Lavallee and his guitar joined the family for "La Bamba."

The gathering was the second of two events the school held to honor heritage month. Last month, to kick off the occasion, all grades heard from a panel of local Hispanic leaders such as City Councilor Hilda Santiago and Attorney Sheila Prats.

But while many enjoyed the food and music Thursday, the educational component was also a huge part, teachers said. Students worked on research for about two weeks in preparation, sixth-grade science teacher Patrick Martin said. "They found some very interesting facts along the way," he said.

"The kids have been talking about tonight all day."

shernandez@record-journal.com
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