Latino parents welcome incoming students

BY LIZZY WAN Diversity Coordinator BY JOELLE HUYSMANS Staff Reporter

On Tuesday, May 2, members of the Spanish-speaking community gathered for Latino Parent Night, an occasion designed to provide parents with the means to stay involved with their children’s academic journey. This meeting was aimed at welcoming new Latino members of the Burlingame community, and soon-to-be freshmen and their families were encouraged to attend.

“By being here, parents can connect with me about what they like or want to see change [in] at school,” said Gina Vaninni, who is Burlingame’s Family Engagement Coordinator and organized the event. “This is a way for them to support and get involved in their children’s education.”

Members of the group used the meeting as an opportunity to welcome new students to their community, as well as introduce them to the staff and other families so they could look forward to seeing friendly faces and have a built-in support system on the first day of school.

“Coming to a new school is always nerve-racking so if [students] can see familiar faces, they know whom to go to for questions and make acquaintances with,” said Claudia Orencio, the mother of a senior and incoming freshman at Burlingame, who attends these events regularly. “That’s how you start forming friendships and rela- tionships.”

Additionally, parents were given the chance to write down “sueños,”’ — translated to “hopes” — that would make their children’s high school experience as positive as possible. Vaninni said she would use those “sueños” to guide her future efforts.

“Oftentimes, families that are here heavily rely on the school to help guide their students and they themselves may not be familiar with all of the resources that are available on campus,” said Christina Cabrera, Burlingame’s lead wellness counselor who spoke at the event. “[Latino Parent Night] helps inform them of support services and it helps create points of contact for our families to reach out to, especially if they’re only Spanish-speaking.

Events like these can be beneficial not just for incoming freshmen, but for their families. By providing opportunities for interaction and socialization, these events help Latino families to unite and strengthen their community.

“An event like this helps make the [Latino] community stronger because it’s a way for us to come together and celebrate our culture and have fun,” said sophomore Graciela Membreno, who has been coming to these meetings since her arrival at school.

Ultimately, the purpose of these nights is to foster a sense of belonging within the school. The organizers want Latino families to have the greatest possible high school experience by supporting them through events like Latino Parent Night.

“ [I want] for students to feel comfortable and say, ‘God, I like this school. This school has their doors and their arms open to us,’” Vaninni said. “That’s what I want them to take away [from this event,] that this is a family; that we’re happy and proud to have them here.”

DHYNE

“[I like] being able to have more work time to catch up, and to focus on more of my classes,” sophomore and AVID student Rhian Savannah Cordero said. “I think a lot of people have benefited from it.”

“[The teachers] have built a community with people from AVID,” sophomore Jeremiah Philips added.

Not only do the students ben- efit from the AVID program, but the teachers do, too. According to Bennett, seeing students grow and get excited about their futures, especially on college tours, has been a “rewarding and wonderful to experience.”

On Wednesday, May 10, the program held an AVID Commencement Ceremony honoring the first graduating class of AVID seniors to acknowledge their hard work and celebrate their future.

This upcoming year will see the largest enrollment numbers for the class since its establishment on Burlingame’s campus, and Dhyne and Bennett said they hope, especially with the implementation of more field days to create a connected community, that the program will only continue to grow in the ensu- ing years.

“The friendships in my AVID class are deeper and more personal than the friendships in my other classes,” Bennett said. “The greatest benefit is having some kids on campus that have your back. Beyond that, the professional and the academic development that the students are exposed to throughout the program is very valuable to their growth.”