Galilea Gallardo (left) and Ruth Alegria work on wreaths at Huguenot High School. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Huguenot High School freshman Elmer Ramos moved to Richmond from El Salvador just eight months ago. All of his classes are in English, a language he is still learning. Does he understand what’s going on? “Un poco,” he says. A little.
On Wednesdays after school, he and up to 15 others in a similar situation gather in the South Side school’s media center to work on homework and practice English with workshop leader Vilma Seymour and student mentors. On Thursdays, the group talks about issues such as conflict resolution and pursuing scholarships for Latino students. Seymour is president of the Richmond region council of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and the Huguenot program, called Unidos (Spanish for United), is funded by a two-year, $20,000 grant her organization received last summer from the LULAC Institute and the Ford Motor Co. Fund. Its purpose is to prevent students such as Ramos from dropping out of school and help them prepare for further education. Through the program, Ramos has learned to open an email account, and he’s developing computer skills. He hopes to work in computer-science technology one day.
“Everyone needs to be coaxed to feel comfortable speaking English,” Seymour says. On a Wednesday in late November, she does this by leading the group in making wreaths using coffee filters. After giving instructions in English on how to attach the filters to a round Styrofoam base, she asks Ramos, “What did I say? Tell me in Spanish.”
Seymour says that her organization chose Huguenot, which has one of the metro area’s largest Hispanic populations, in an effort to boost graduation rates. According to Virginia Department of Education figures, the on-time graduation rate for Hispanic students in Richmond Public Schools has declined during the last three years, dropping to just 40 percent in 2016-17.
Along with the after-school workshops, participants and their parents are invited to monthly Saturday sessions called Éxito Escolar, aimed at helping students navigate applying to college. For ninth-grader Israel Torres Castellanos, a native of Mexico who wants to become a mechanical engineer, those sessions have reinforced the importance of studying. “Not going to college can affect your future,” he says. And, he adds, “There are a lot of colleges you can go to.”
