By Shivali Shah, Staff Writer
Using creativity and teamwork, Señora Souidi’s Spanish classes celebrated the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, by creating ofrendas to honor influential people who have passed.
Ofrendas are altars, or offering places, that are elaborately decorated to honor a deceased person. Though traditionally placed in homes, Souidi’s students have created them in the River Hill media center for the whole school to see. Students dedicated ofrendas to some of the world’s icons who have unfortunately passed, including Queen Elizabeth II, Frida Khalo, Walt Disney, Bob Ross, Péle, Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman and Muhammad Ali.
Students worked hard to decorate the ofrendas with all of the things that make the deceased person so influential. This includes the individual’s favorite items, foods or pictures of them. Sophomore Noelle Markos described the process of creating the ofrendas as “a bit stressful because it was a full class project, and getting everyone on the same page was hard. But overall, it was pretty fun. Making the ofrenda, and the day we brought all the stuff was super fun, like seeing the final product.” Noelle’s 4A class period brought in photos of Queen Elizabeth II, “crosses, since she was Christian, and other British stuff, like the flag.”
Each class also created presentations about the deceased person, both in Spanish and English. Students presented slideshows to their peers in order to bring awareness to all the amazing things these people had done. The deceased persons were also honored with live performances. In particular, Ms. Souidi’s 4A class sang the British national anthem and performed “Remember Me” from the movie Coco on the violin and cello. Her third period class also played “Remember Me,” but on the flute and clarinet and also performed a traditional dance to honor the dead.
In addition to the ofrendas, performances, and presentations, Souidi’s classes are holding a competition where they had their peers vote on which class created the best altar. The winning class will “receive an automatic 100, and won’t have to do a listening test,” sophomore Emily Yen shares. Students in Souidi’s classes worked hard to convince students to vote for their class by offering candy to those who do. In the end, Souidi’s 4A class won with 116 votes and will be receiving the reward as well as a pizza party sponsored by the Hispanic Hawks Club.
Overall, students believe the project was fun and informative. Noelle comments, “I learned more about Queen Elizabeth [II], I didn’t know much about her. But I also learned a lot about ofrendas and what goes on them.”