Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Justin Sukanen makes quesadillas for their fellow Hurley students Thursday at the Festival de Navidad. The quesadillas were a big hit, with Sukanen consistently having a line of students waiting to buy supplemental chow.
By IAN MINIELLY
Hurley - The Hurley K-12 school opened its doors and taste buds to some real Latin flavor Thursday. With tables set up in the small gym representing different countries and different meals, the school's Spanish 2 and 3 classes, as well as Advanced Placement students, came together to put on the annual Festival de Navidad.
Around 45 kids were involved and teacher Natalie Patritto helped organized the event to motivate and challenge the kids to get involved in their Spanish language courses.
Patritto said it costs about $1,400 in food and supplies to put on the event, but with the steady stream of kids of all ages in and out buying all the different types of food, the fundraiser would likely turn a nice profit.
The money made from the festival will help pay for the bus to take the students to Minneapolis for the Festival of Nations May 5-7. Patritto said there is a chance they could stay overnight if the festival brought in enough money.
The Festival de Navidad also pays for a scholarship to a Hurley student who elects to study Spanish in college. Patritto said they have never had at least one graduate choose Spanish as a subject field for college.
