ST. PETER — St. Peter High School ninth grader Juan Pablo Carrasco Moreno and senior Tomas Larois were among those to proudly carry the Mexican flag around a dance circle Friday as a Minneapolis band played Hispanic music for the student body.
The celebration was part of the school’s Hispanic/Latino Peoples’ Joy Day.
“I really think it’s important because we really have a lot of Hispanic people in St. Peter and it joys me up to see Hispanic people get together and do all this,” said Moreno, who is half Mexican.
“My favorite activity was probably the music, the dancing, because that’s really what the Hispanic culture does, but I really like it. I’ve been doing it for years.”
The educational event is the third of its kind in the past year; the district has previously held similar events such as Indigenous Peoples’ Joy Day and Black Peoples’ Joy Day.
Social studies teacher and equity coordinator John Warren said the goal is to spread the joy of the ethnic groups in St. Peter’s schools.
“Number one is the joy theme, right? Showing everyone the joy of these cultures and these groups, that there’s so much beauty in these groups,” he said.
Friday’s event featured 12 breakout session presenters, two keynote speakers, a dance group, a live band and lucha libre, which is wrestling.
Warren said there were also a handful of student presenters.
“We had four student groups this time being presenters, so that was big to have peers showing their culture to their peers,” he said.
Ninth grader Alex Pelayo and junior Connor Mugaas said they enjoyed the experience.
“The food was really, really good, and what I didn’t know, for the instruments, that there were so many unique instruments,” Pelayo said.