53°F
weather icon Clear

A look into Día De Los Muertos at BCHS

For nearly a decade, Boulder City High School has created a tradition in their Spanish Honors classes to build ofrendas in honor of the Spanish holiday, Día De Los Muertos also known as Day of the Dead.

Día De Los Muertos is a day of commemoration and an offering to those loved family members and pets who have passed on. This holiday has been celebrated worldwide for nearly three thousand years on November first and second. When cherished ones have passed, those who celebrate, build altars with flowers, candles, items they loved before passing, and most importantly, a photo of them. They build these altars so their relatives can cross over and visit them on this day.

Our honors and college level Spanish teacher, Jennifer Kendrick, has taken an approach to teaching not only how to speak Spanish, but the culture of it. For 9-10 years, Señora has kept the school tradition for her Spanish classes to build their own ofrenda. This year, they collaborated as a class to build these altars. These memorials are built for their very alive staff, having the class choose who they’d like to build one for. After they’ve chosen their teacher by voting as a class, having majority rule, they work together to get the supplies needed for the altar like flowers, photos, candles, boxes, and other sorts of decoration one would see on an altar for a passed loved one. Once the altars are ready, they will be judged on completion and presentability by other staff members who do not have an ofrenda or any sort of biased opinion. The winning class of whichever ofrenda the judges choose will either get extra credit on their next test or a piñata party!

This is a fun-loving assignment for the students. Dual Spanish student, Savannah Fecteau (11) states that “It is relieving doing a project like this with crafts and color in a college level class.” Even with more vocabulary and harder assignments in this advanced class, students are still able to have some enjoyable activities with their peers along with having more of a connection while learning about the culture. Fecteau also claimed she felt she was truly grieving the staff as if they have really passed on, which made her gain a lot of respect for those who celebrate. A select number of Boulder’s students are already connected with this culture and are aware of this tradition. Sophomore Seth Valencia and the rest of his Spanish 2 class worked a diligent amount on their altar for World History teacher, Mr. Donaldson. Seth spoke out on those who consider loved ones crossing over as a sort of myth. “I believe in it even though we don’t really get to physically see or hear them, we can feel that they’re there.”

Having the students build ofrendas gives the students the experience of other cultures in an exciting way. “I think understanding different ideas and cultures can be an amazing thing. They’re able to step outside the normal and into others’ beliefs!” Señora Kendrick exclaims. Señora wanted the students to benefit from this in the sense that they can see how other peoples’ traditions affect their lives and how they go about it. This project brought knowledge to the culture and brought students together in this collaborative project.

Día De Los Muertos is the day to honor and acknowledge those who have had an impact on our life and allow them to come and visit us. It is important to take note that this holiday is not necessarily a day of discouragement and grief, but of joy and celebration. Whether you have an ofrenda built in your house or if you go and visit a tombstone of a relative, the importance of these days is to reminisce and appreciate the ones whose souls were once and always there. Día De Los Muertos is a day to remember.

MOST READ
THE LATEST
Season of giving at BCHS

If you live in Boulder City, you know the community is very busy during the holidays, especially winter holidays.

Taking a look at diabetes

Did you know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises people with diabetes to get a flu vaccination to prevent flu and serious flu complications and recommends people with diabetes who have flu infection or suspect flu infection be promptly treated with antiviral treatment.

Building a growth mindset at King

Sometimes as adults we can spend too much time focusing on “wins” and “losses.” This is true in education as well.

Busy fall season at Garrett Junior High

As we wrap up the fall season at Garrett Junior High, there’s so much to celebrate.

Sometimes simple appliance DIY can spare you costly service calls

Wasn’t I embarrassed when I couldn’t figure out why my friend’s dishwasher wouldn’t start. I troubleshot as best as I could, given my limited time visiting her. It was getting power, the door was closed properly, yet when I pressed “start,” it just wouldn’t. I advised her to call a local appliance repair company. $85 later she was informed that it somehow went into its “locked function.” Simply holding down the Heat/Dry button for three seconds unlocks it. That’s all it needed. Boy did I feel dumb. I mean, I’m the Toolbelt Diva, after all.

Calculating breast cancer risk

Absolute risk versus relative risk and what you need to know about calculating the risk of developing breast cancer. Let’s define both and gauge the risk.

Staff, students impress principal

Andrew J. Mitchell recently earned a spot on the Clark County School District Superintendent’s Honor Roll. It was a pleasure to accept this award on behalf of the staff, students, and families of Mitchell Elementary.

Country Store expects big crowd this weekend

Over the last seven-plus decades, Grace Community Church’s Country Store has gone from a simple bake sale to one of the largest yard sales in the area.

Military widows, widowers, form new group

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) supervises thousands of benefit programs including many variations on most of them. Veterans and their families can be eligible for “this, that and the other.” But in the case of “other, that and this,” one must go to option one, two or three unless applying under a different section of the definition of “Feature X, Y and Z.” Or something like that. The red tape is unending.