St. Kitts and Nevis on parade

Michael Miller

Tim Salvino wants his students to know that the world is a diverse

place. So when his class had to represent a nation for Newport

Heights Elementary School’s annual Parade of Countries, Salvino chose

the most obscure one possible.

“Every year we’ve been doing this, I’ve tried to pick a country

that’s not well known,” Salvino said, “to remind people that there

are countries other than the big superpowers.”

While other classrooms around the school studied Canada, France,

China and other well-known entities, Salvino’s fifth-grade class

learned the history and fashion of St. Kitts and Nevis, a pair of

microscopic islands in the Caribbean, which together form one

sovereign state.

No one in the class knew quite how residents of St. Kitts and

Nevis dress, but Salvino told them simply to wear tropical-style

clothes to school.

In preparing for the parade, students learned a number of fun

facts about St. Kitts and Nevis: for example, that Christopher

Columbus named the second island after the Spanish word for “snow,”

and that the British and French co-owned St. Kitts for nearly 100

years.

St. Kitts and Nevis are so small they’re not even marked on

Salvino’s classroom map.

“I was surprised that it was not on the map, because I have a map

and it has a lot of stuff on it,” said student Antonio Ortiz. “I

thought it was interesting that it was ruled by the French and

British.”

On Friday, then, the tiny island country joined the annual parade

on the field of Newport Heights. On a rain-slicked ground, 26 classes

proceeded under a red, white and blue balloon arch, with students and

teachers dressed in foreign outfits that left Newport Beach far

behind.

Each class dressed in the garb of its chosen country and also

carried construction-paper flags.

Teachers were in charge of their classes’ costumes, and some found

creative means of obtaining them. Second-grade teacher Eleanor

Dickson has an Indian student in her class whose mother, Ivy

Persichini, provided traditional dresses, complete with jewelry.

“We’re learning how all children are the same as Newport Heights

children and how they’re different,” Dickson said. “One theme is that

everyone in the world has feelings, needs to learn, loves to play and

needs love.”

After the parade, the school held its annual “Olympic” jog-a-thon,

in which students raised over $27,000 for the PTA -- an all-time

record -- in pledges and sponsorships.

Wilson Lubeck, a kindergartener, raised $1,128 from family, friends and neighbors.

Students wore their regular school clothes to run around the

track.

“It really is a huge multicultural celebration,” said principal

Kurt Suhr, who began the day’s festivities by carrying a torch onto

the field.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Michael Miller visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about his experience.