Students at James Elementary School finished up their Hispanic Heritage week with a huge celebration that culminated with a Friday afternoon performance of storytelling dances performed  by two dancers from Grupo Folklorico Izcalli, a local Folklorico dance troup based in Shawnee, Kansas.

According to Principal Josie Herrera, this is the first opportunity students have had for enrichment in almost 20 months since the beginning of the pandemic. “They’ve been really excited for all the activities this past week,” said Herrera who is in her first year as Principal at James. “We’re playing Loteria during lunch which is like a Mexican bingo. We had pan dulce which is a Mexican bread and this is our culminating activity to end our celebration.”

Grupo Folklorico Izcalli founder Annel Alvarez and Dancer Tania Sosa were a little nervous going in, this being their first experience performing for younger students.  “Younger kids are a tough crowd, they’re very honest,” said Alvarez.  “We were a little bit nervous but they’ve been really good and so excited.” Both Alvarez and Sosa have been dancing since age five. If the name Folklorico Izcalli sounds familiar, they performed at a recent Kansas City Chiefs home game.

Other activities during the week included music and culture day, where students learned different music and history from various Latino cultures, and dress up day, where students were encouraged to dress in the colors of the flag of a Latin American country.

“We’re excited,” Herrera said, “And really looking forward to partner with the community moving forward. “