MEChA hosted a Day of the Dead on November 1st. A lot of people from the community attended and indulged in some Latin American culture.

Attendees were able to enjoy some authentic latin food such as tacos, burritos, quesadillas, tamales, tortas, and much more. They were also able to enjoy some Day of the Dead inspired art work showcased in the cafeteria. There were also some activities such as face painting and sugar skull decorating that were enjoyed by many. This event drew a lot of commentary and reactions that reached Wilsonville High School’s administration.

We asked Mr. Schumaker, Wilsonville High School’s principal, if he could share some of the feedback that he received from the event. He says, “I received two kinds of feedback; one feedback piece was from parents in our community … they said ‘I wished I had known more about these kinds of things.’”

The day that Day of the Dead occurred, a play was happening in the auditorium. Some of the parents who arrived early for the play ended up hanging out a bit and enjoying some of the festivities brought by the Day of the Dead.

I got very positive feedback from parents who were at the event and came for the event. They said, ‘It was really nice to come to the school at a time when I felt like you hadn’t already defined the purpose.’ If it’s a basketball game or a soccer game, they come for that. This was kind of ‘enjoy yourself.’”

Some school administration came to the event, their feedback was focused on the people they saw and were delighted to see many people from the community and just catch up instead of feeling like they are suppose to be watching a game. 

The feedback received for this event is a reflection of the school and the community. Mr. Schumaker says, “I think it reflects really positively. It calls two mind two things. One, just how important it is to have events like this. And for not just families to feeling welcomed but for kids to feel like they are a part of something that families enjoys… It also makes you wonder, ‘did we do enough?’ because we have this big, huge building that our community pays for. And so, we want to show off and say, ‘this is your place to come.’”

With all events, there’s always room for improvement. Some constructive criticism that was received from this event was more space. Other points of improvement were to have some daycare available. “It would have been great to play with the kids but then get them to a place where they can just play and we could be adults.  And we have a lot of students who would’ve loved to do that. And the other feedback was more, can we do more?”

In all, Dia de los Muertos had really good feedback and more is wanted. Mark your calendars for Cinco de Mayo, maybe MEChA whips up something for this special day.