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Austintown Fitch celebrates Cinco de Mayo
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Various books and tissue paper for making flowers were on display during the Cinco de Mayo celebration at Austintown Fitch High School.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Austintown Fitch High School junior Jarrod Kaminski folded tissue paper into a flower during the school's Cinco de Mayo celebration.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Austintown Fitch High School librarian, Sheila Henline, showed students how to fold tissue paper into a flower during the school's Cinco de Mayo celebration.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.A pinata made from tissue paper was hung on display in the Medica Center at Austintown Fitch High School during the Cinco de Mayo celebration.
By TIM CLEVELAND
Even though it was one day late, Austintown Fitch High School celebrated Cinco de Mayo on May 6 with various activities in the school’s Media Center, which students could participate in during their lunch break.
Fitch Spanish teacher and Spanish Club advisor Rob Frazzini said the idea originated with the school’s librarian Sheila Henline.
“Mrs. Henline came to me with the idea that she wanted to get more things involved with the Media Center through the school activities,” he said. “She’s done things in the past with other clubs and other groups from other schools so she came to me and the other Spanish teachers with the idea of holding an event for Cinco de Mayo.”
Frazzini said students can clear up a lot of misconceptions about what Cinco de Mayo represents.
“A deeper understanding of what the actual holiday is,” he said. “Most of the students think that it’s Mexico’s independence day, but it’s really the day they defeated France in the battle of Puebla. The idea of why they celebrate it and some cultural background to it, also to have a little bit of fun in the process as well.”
The beginning of the holiday traces back to May 5, 1862, when Mexico earned a surprise defeat over France, which was attempting to annex the country after a series of wars left Mexico unable to pay back a debt. While Mexico won the battle of Puebla, France overtook Mexico City in 1864. After the conclusion of the Civil War, the United States was able to focus on helping Mexico and France was driven out of the country in 1867.
For the Cinco de Mayo celebration, Fitch students made flowers out of tissue paper, although some prior students made pinatas. They also watched some videos and did research about the holiday, and took a quiz to earn a bag of chips as a reward.
“Most of the students have already celebrated Cinco de Mayo yesterday in their classroom parties, so this is just kind of get the idea out to the rest of the school, some of the students who are not involved with Spanish Club or may not be in Spanish classes as well,” Frazzini said.
Fitch junior Jarrod Kaminski was among Frazzini’s Spanish students who participated in the activities. He said he learned a lot about Cinco de Mayo during class.
“I didn’t know much about it,” Kaminski said. “I learned a lot of stuff, actually. About the war and the different things that happened within it. We learned a lot of different things.”