MACON, Bibb County — Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated with a festival, feast and fiesta at Burdell-Hunt Magnet Elementary.
It's one of Principal Tanya Allen's favorite days of her nearly 20-year career.
She said her school's Spanish teacher, Elda Bryan, spearheads the showcase every year.
"This was her vision," Allen said. "She wanted to do a cultural festival, and we started that 15, 16 years ago."
"This is like the American dream for me!" Bryan exclaimed. "When I came to this country as a teacher, I was the one to come and share my culture with my students, and this was the school that opened the doors."
As Bibb County School's Communication Magnet school, they not only integrate Spanish into the curriculum, but non-English speakers also attend.
"If there's a student whose native language is not English, then they come to school here," the principal explained.
The communication curriculum has three parts, Allen elaborated: Writing, Spanish and Multimedia.
"The teachers infuse what they're teaching throughout the year with Spanish," she continued. "Of course, we teach writing every day anyway, and multimedia is just the way of the world."
All that's folded and enveloped together to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Allen said.
"Part of our festival is for each class to have a country," she said. "[Bryan] gives them a voice in what country they choose, and the teachers go all out, they coordinate with their parents."
Decked out in traditional Hispanic fashion, the students celebrated the history and culture of the country they represented.
Allen and Bryan explained the Spanish-speaking families at the school brought homecooked meals so the Burdell-Hunt family could feast together, tasting authentic Hispanic cuisines.
To kick off the festival, students performed coordinated dances and sang songs before they crowned the princess and prince of each grade.
The royal court was chosen by their peers for collecting the most donations.
Fifth grader Christina Taylor won princess and represented El Salvador with her class.
"It's near Nicaragua and Honduras," she said.
The king and queen of the international festival were also crowned by their predecessors, who are now sixth graders.
Queen Ja'Liyla Ware said "I'm really excited and I hope whoever gets it whenever I go to middle school that they're as excited as me because I'm very excited."
Allen explained Northeast High School's band and the king and queen of the 2023-24 school year took a field trip to participate in the day's events.
"Oh my goodness, the children get so engaged in this process!" Allen said with excitement.
"I cannot explain how proud I am to see what they achieved during the school year," Bryan said. "I could never have done this without my teachers. They helped me."
Congratulations to 13WMAZ's School of the Week: Burdell-Hunt Magnet Elementary School!
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