In the auditorium of Iveland Elementary School in the Ritenour School District, students gathered at tables decorated with flags of countries including Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras.
At the El Salvador table, students squealed as white foam meant to represent lava flowed from small volcanoes set up by their teacher.
Each table was designed to highlight a unique fact about a country’s culture– El Salvador is known for its many volcanoes.
The activities were part of Iveland Elementary’s annual Hispanic Heritage Festival in Overland, which celebrated the diverse backgrounds of their student body.
Logan Felder, a music teacher at Iveland, said the school’s diversity is something to be celebrated.
“I think having an event like this is important because it allows us as a community a chance to honor the cultures that are part of it and then make it really beautiful,” Felder said “ We have students who have friends who are from Nicaragua or Honduras or Colombia, and it’s a chance for them to be immersed in someone else's culture.”
The school is home to about 400 students, with about 30% who come from Spanish-speaking households. The school reflects the diversity of the greater district.
The celebration came against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration in the U.S.
In the early weeks of Trump’s second term, unverified social media posts began to circulate of possible sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the St. Louis region, causing fear among immigrant communities.
On Tuesday, Governor Mike Kehoe said he would activate the state’s National Guard to “assist with administrative, clerical, and logistical duties at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facilities within the State of Missouri.”
Liliana Gopar is the parent of a fifth grader at Iveland Elementary and said the news around immigration enforcement is always on her mind.
“I grew up with that fear. I went through it with my parents when I was little, and I feel like my kids are going through it now with us, even if we’re protected in some way because they [ICE] are targeting everyone,” Gopar said. “ It’s scary.”
But she said she feels supported by the school and doesn’t worry about sending her kids to school because she knows they will be safe.
Iveland Elementary Principal Amanda Connelly said the goal remains the same regardless of any changes at both the state and federal levels.
“I just want to make sure that every student knows that they're safe here, that they're welcome here, that they belong here, and that, you know, no matter what is going on in the outside world, we love them, and you know we want them here,” Connelly said.
