Week of
October 4, 2000
Inside the Register
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'Escuela de Guadalupe' celebrates first anniversary
By Alwen Bledsoe
A celebration of bright colors and lively music filled St. Patrick Church in north Denver, Sept. 15, as parents, students, teachers and community leaders gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of "Escuela de Guadalupe."
Following welcoming addresses and music performed by a Mariachi band, the students followed an uplifted cross in leading the assembly to the former St. Patrick School, where "Escuela de Guadalupe" shares space with the archdiocesan Office for Hispanic Ministry.
At the school, the students led the gathering in singing, "Las Mananitas" — the Spanish version of "Happy Birthday."
"Escuela de Guadalupe" is a Catholic dual language school founded Sept. 16, 1999. The current enrollment of 61 students in kindergarten through third grade will gradually increase, eventually offering classes through the eighth grade.
Parents and community leaders worked for several years to bring Catholic school education back to the neighborhood. Both St. Patrick School and Our Lady of Mount Carmel School were closed years ago due to dwindling enrollments.
Jesuit Father Tom Prag, one of the founders of the school, said the community had a significant role in shaping the philosophy and identity of "Escuela de Guadalupe."
Dr. Tony Vigil, principal of Escuela de Guadalupe, has a Ph.D. in Dual Language Methodology, an innovative bilingual program designed to enable Spanish-speaking students to learn English, and vice versa.
According to Vigil, the majority of students have progressed academically two to three years in the past year.
The method works in a three phase process, allowing children to learn a new language without falling behind academically.
Students learn all new content in their primary language while also receiving direct instruction in their second languages; The program then places children in mixed groups of Spanish and English speakers and reviews the new content again: one week in Spanish and the next week in English.
Father Prag noted that this allows the students to assist each other in language skills, reinforcing pride in their culture and language.
As a "community based school," Escuela de Guadalupe relies on a great deal of parent involvement. Tuition is based on a "sliding scale," allowing parents to provide Catholic education to their children and encouraging them to take part in the educational process.
Parent Marcella Hernandez said the school makes "a home for the kids" and said she and other parents like the dual-language approach of the school.
A volunteer art teacher, Susan Vantteuvelen, called the school a "cohesive environment of a community coming together." The kids, she said, learn that "school is not isolated from the rest of the world."
The school has sought to make education an intrinsic part of the Latino community by nurturing and embracing the language, culture and Catholic faith of the neighborhood.
Father Prag also emphasized the schools success in relating to the surrounding Latino and Catholic culture. He said that parents who may not have graduated from high school often avoid school settings because it was "the scene of their greatest failure."
At Escuela de Guadalupe, however, parents become intimately involved in their student's education, committing to reading at home with their kids and to volunteering at the school regularly.
Father Prag also said that the school's smallness creates the feeling of a family, an essential aspect of the Latino culture.
Margie Guerra-Woodruff, director of development, said the school seeks to support, rather than hinder, the Latino culture as family as students relate to their own culture as well as to other aspects of the American culture.
While the school's philosophy includes "developing students' knowledge and pride of their Latino culture," it also includes preparing students to relate to cultures other than their own, according to Father Prag.
Escuela de Guadalupe is located at 3401 Pecos St., Denver 80211. For information, call 303-964-8456.