The cafeteria at Chapel Hill High School came alive with music and dancing that resembled a party, as students, teachers and parents came together to celebrate Hispanic and Latino culture at a culture expo.

The event was completely student-led thanks to a club at the school known as Todos Juntos, and the event brought out several different people to experience and celebrate the students’ many different cultures.

“The whole event was a huge success,” said Lizzy Kilgore, DCSS’ District Bilingual Liaison. “It really was just like a big family party. There was food, music and people dancing, and they even brought out a piñata, so it was a really good time for everyone.”

Along with celebrating all cultures represented, the students also took time during the night to hold an informational meeting for parents that was held entirely in Spanish. During the meeting, the students talked about their academics and discussed their paths to graduation and the courses they still need to take.

“It was the students' idea to have the meeting and do it in a lot of their parents’ native languages. And with all the parents we had come out, I could tell that they were all really engaged,” Kilgore said.

“Principal Watson spoke some Spanish to the families, and talked about how she learned it in Puebla, Mexico. To have an administrator do that and connect with families that way was really special.”

Once the meeting concluded, the families continued singing, dancing and celebrating culture once again. And with this event being a success, Kilgore added that she hopes another event like this one can happen again for DCSS’ families.

“The families were so happy and felt welcome, and that’s what we were trying to do,” she said. “We really want to make connections with families from all over the world.”