In San Luis, the Christmas season offers a special opportunity for inclusion. San Luis High School's Special Education Posada and Transition Fair is now three years strong, and it offers students with and without disabilities a chance to perform together and celebrate the season.
"It is their opportunity for them to shine. Our students deserve their moment to be recognized in different aspects as in, like, their academics," said Alan Vasquez, a special education teacher. "Some students work a little harder than others and that needs to be recognized. Some students, they work hard, they don't get there but they keep on working and they need a spot for that to be recognized.
"There's also some of the awards for some of our individual students that support our students — our peer mentors. They also deserve to be recognized. And it's basically a giant bundle of moments for everyone's actions of the school year to be just recognized."
This year, the posada featured San Luis High School’s color guard, beginning band, guitar one class, and students from the Exceptional Student Services Department among others.
ESS Counselor and event organizer Yesenia Reynaga Martinez explained inclusion is key, and that's why students from ESS and outside of it perform together.
"What we do because we want to make it inclusive — and there's so many different levels of student needs. When we are up there hosting, we don't use the word special education at any time," she said. "We try to be inclusive because we do have students with less needs who just want to fit in. So that's why this year we brought in a lot of the clubs at our school to try and make it more inclusive. You know, like, 'I'm here for this, but I'm actually here to get recognized as well, you know.'"
It may seem inconsistent to avoid saying 'special ed' onstage when the event’s name features the term, but Reynaga Martinez said that's because it's what the community recognizes.
"We're trying to change the way that we see special education students," she said. "ESS actually stands for Exceptional Student Services. We've tried in the past with our community and we're still learning that acronym. So the reason why we call it the SPED Posada is because our parents understand that acronym — Special Education Department. But we are trying really hard to transition into the ESS terminology because it's a little bit more positive."
This tracked with KAWC's experience speaking with parents at the posada. They didn't seem to recognize the term when asked about it, but they were excited nonetheless — for the inclusion and the Christmas cheer.
Watching on as the beginning band students were practicing before the event, one mother shared what makes the event so exciting.
"Well, what we're hoping for are the Christmas songs and seeing the Christmas decorations with the piñata and the colors," Rafaela Flores replied in Spanish. "Well, it looks very beautiful, and then when we see the artists with their little Christmas hats, we get excited."
Flores' son was part of the mariachi performances that night. As it was one of his first performances as a San Luis Sidewinder, she was very excited for him.
Gabriela Valenzuela was just as excited. Her son led the pledge of allegiance, and even though it may seem a lesser role than a musical performance, it was a very big moment for her and her son.
"Well, it's a very big achievement for him — more so since he's very timid and many times it's difficult making him participate," she said. "But this time, he was very excited to do it and he participated in many activities and got involved, and that was also a very big achievement for him."
When asked about it, her son, Marcelo Valenzuela, shared:
"Um, I'm just feeling happy. I like to say something in the stage during the pledge of allegiance."
The ESS students who performed were helped by peer mentor students. One of them was too shy to share her name, but she did echo that it was a happy experience helping the students practice for the big day.
"They were really, really excited," she said. "They danced really well in the practices and the stage. It was really nice working with them."
In her view, the posada matters a great deal because of the special memories it creates.
Pulling it off does take some consideration, however, and it depends on considering both the students’ and the audience’s needs.
"We've had in the past students with real sensory needs. That's why we try and be inclusive in terms of sounds, and we did try and do the ASL (American Sign Language) clapping," Reynaga Martinez shared. "This year we didn't have many students with that issue, but in the past we have where we've had to have students put like noise counseling headphones on. But we were pretty good this year, but we still wanted to provide that."
Reynaga Martinez also noted that the event planning took students' mobility needs into account.
"We had some students in wheel chairs and some students who use canes who are visually impaired, so we definitely had their related service providers out here working with them actually so that they could get to know the stage and where they were going to walk, too, and all of that," she said.
And since San Luis is predominantly Spanish-speaking, the posada was presented in both English and Spanish.
In that same spirit of inclusion and accessibility, the transition fair takes place just after the performances. By combining it with the posada, families not only celebrate their students, they learn about community resources relevant to their needs, too.
"So students specifically with Individualized Education Plans or IEPs, we have to focus on their post-secondary goals, needs depending on their needs on a day-to-day basis," Reynaga Martinez said. "There are students who are college bound. There are students who might not. They might have a little bit more needs and they might need — they might not be able to live independently quite yet. So this type of event brings resources that parents might not think are available for them."
She further explained that some students might need vocational rehabilitation or specific medical needs, so the transition fair gives their families an opportunity to connect with these kinds of providers.
Gabriela Valenzuela pointed out that in addition to the resources, parents really appreciate the chance to connect with their community.
"Well, first of all, yes, [the posada] matters a lot because it involves [ESS students] and makes them part of the community, part of the school, and most importantly, it encourages them to do things they wouldn't normally do or that push them outside their comfort zone, and that also gives them more life experience," she replied in Spanish. "And for us as parents, it also allows us to meet other parents, to talk to the teachers, to get to know other teachers and to meet the people who work at the school."
Although the event is only three years in, it's already become a beloved community event.
"Here in the community, they go all out whenever it's a Christmas event, so yes, it's something common in this community," Valenzuela said.
And that's because Christmas time is a special time for San Luis.
Reporting for this article is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
