By Rodd Cayton – The Paper.
“How many of you have been to Ireland?” Kate Padilla asked her audience Friday in Bernalillo. No hands went up, but Padilla and her group from Brightburn Academy brought a bit of the Emerald Isle to them.
The group went through several numbers as part of Cultural Day at W. D. Carroll Elementary School — an annual year-end tradition in which students show off their skills and absorb some culture from local arts professionals.
Padilla said afterward that the kids’ enthusiastic response made the dancers feel more energized.
The school has hosted the event for at least 13 years, special education teacher Anna Nielsen said. She said Cultural Day is highly anticipated each year, and curated to help students learn about diversity and celebrate the different cultures, customs and traditions of people around the world.
Kindergarten dual-language teacher Alicia Maestas was the main organizer. She said the students began working on their routines — and learning about the cultures that inspired them — way back in the fall.
Maestas said this year’s Cultural Day was the biggest yet, and that the community always comes out to support the event. Students from each W.D. Carroll class and the adjacent La Escuelita Preschool performed, some in brightly colored crowns of flowers and some balancing glasses of water balanced atop their heads.
In addition to the student numbers, the all-day event included performances by Brightburn Academy, Mariachi Alma De Albuquerque, a lion dance group and the Bernalillo High School Ballet Folklorico, as well as local food trucks that sold snow cones and snacks during the event, donating part of their proceeds to the school.