The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
THREE KINGS EVENT COMES TO DISTRICT
Parranda celebrates Puerto Rican culture
The weather turned for the better Jan. 11 for Lorain High School’s Three Kings Parranda event after it was canceled because of January’s frigid winter in Lorain.
To make Lorain City Schools students who relocated from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria feel at home, some Lorain High staff put together a Three Kings Parranda event at 2600 Ashland Ave.
Staff in Student Services and members of Sacred Heart Chapel, 4301 Pearl Ave. in Lorain, celebrated Three Kings Day with a Puerto Rican tradition of a Parranda, or a musical parade.
Three Kings Day lies on Jan. 6, but is a celebration that brings many together throughout the holidays, said Doreen Morell, executive director of Student Services at Lorain High.
The Parranda is an attempt to make an easier transition for over 100 Puerto Rican scholars now in Lorain Schools, Morell said.
The Parranda event traveled to five schools total in the district.
Beginning at Lorain High, three members of Sacred Heart dressed up as The Three Kings, while staff from Lorain High followed behind playing
musical instruments accompanied by traditional Hispanic music.
After traveling through Lorain High and gathering staff and students in the hallways to enjoy the celebration, the group then traveled to remaining schools where there are a majority of newer Hispanic students: General Johnnie Wilson, 2700 Washington Ave.; Washington Elementary, 1025 W. 23rd St.; Steven Dohanos Elementary, 1625 E. 32nd St.; and Southview Middle School, 2321 Fairless Drive.
Zobeyda Marrero, student services bilingual assistant, was involved in the Parranda and said she and others wanted to give the new young students hope after losing or leaving their homes in the hurricane.
Marrero said some students came on their own and are staying with other family members in Lorain, while their parents are still working on getting back on
their feet in Puerto Rico.
“By bringing this (to students), we felt like we’re bringing home to them,” she said. “This is something they celebrate all year round and we didn’t want them to miss out on it.
“That’s what we are; Titans are all about family.”
Marrero added it would be nice to continue a celebration like this, annually.
To make an easier transition for students and to make them feel more at home, the Parranda was not only held for new students from Puerto Rico, but for all in the district,
Jay Nimene, director of Student and Family Outreach, said inviting a Puerto Rican tradition that is authentic to Lorain Schools is also to educate other students and encourage their support toward the new students.
The Lorain School District is doing its best to make the Puerto Rican students integrate easily and to acknowledge things from their culture, Nimene said.
Currently, Lorain High is providing more Spanish language in the classrooms than normal, he said.
From making more signs throughout the school in Spanish, incorporating the language into the morning announcements and more, Nimene said this will help provide to the need of making students feel more welcome and comfortable.
“As we grow, we’ll learn while we continue doing stuff (for the students) like this,” he said.
Morell said the students from Puerto Rico and their families are coming to Lorain with nothing and rely on the schools and other services in the city to help them transition, Morell said.
To help some of the new students with the language barrier, she said more bilingual staff have been hired, but more are needed.
Staffers and students at Lorain High and other schools in the district are supplying them with donated coats after leaving their tropical weather.
“We have a great staff that makes this all possible,” Morell said.