‘Amazing’: First class graduating from GRPS bilingual school

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — It’s a particularly proud moment for 55 seniors in the class of 2024.

“Feels amazing. It’s exciting. I don’t even know how to describe it,” said Aaron Allen, a senior at Grand Rapids Public Schools’ Southwest Middle High.

Prior to 2019, GRPS only offered its bilingual immersion program to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. In 2020, a new $20 million dollar facility began offering a first-of-its-kind program to high schoolers on the city’s southwest side. This year’s class will be the first to graduate from Southwest Middle High School.

Allen and his classmate Danny Juarez Lorenzo have been part of the program since kindergarten.

“My sister was supposed to go to that high school, actually. So her telling me, ‘Oh, you should be lucky that you go to this school because I was unfortunately not able to go,'” Juarez Lorenzo said. “But hearing the news was kind of great, ’cause I was like, ‘Oh wait, I’m going to be with everybody that I was just in middle school,’ so it’s almost like we’re growing up together.”

The seniors got to relive some of the memories of their younger years Tuesday, as they walked through Southwest Elementary School, greeted by trumpets and halls lined with students cheering.

“It’s almost emotional to be able to walk back through the building and see everything that we saw before, especially because our eighth grade got cut off short so we never really graduated eighth grade,” Allen said. “So it’s really exciting to come back and see everything and how it’s changed, see all the kids and how happy they were to see us.”

For many of the students, this moment is a culmination of their families’ sacrifices.

“My mom grew up in Guatemala,” Juarez Lorenzo said. “I had an older brother who she was trying to move (to the U.S.), but sadly he passed away. So I kind of use that motivation to bring me all the way where I’m at.”

He proudly wore a Guatemalan stole and a pendant that honors his brother.

“He would be really proud, really … where I am, he would be really proud. I know it,” Juarez Lorenzo beamed. “It’s not necessarily sadness, it’s mostly happiness ’cause I know where he’s up there, he would know that I’m doing great.”

Maite Reyes and Rosalinda Lopez, class valedictorian and salutatorian, also worked hard to realize this achievement for themselves and their Guatemalan families.

“They only got to finish like sixth grade, both of my parents, and like seeing that I’m graduating high school is like, they gave me this opportunity that they didn’t have,” Reyes said.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be able to show them that their hard work has paid off,” Lopez echoed.

All 55 students will graduate with the seal of biliteracy from the state of Michigan and a translation interpretation certificate.

“It’s unique. There are some other programs that have a track like this, but we are a building-wide bilingual program and that’s very, very hard to accomplish,” said Principal Julian Ramirez Torres.

Tuesday was a bittersweet day for him, too.

“I’ve been with them since they were eighth grade students, so for the last five years, they’ve been part of my life,” Ramirez Torres said. “Very excited, very happy for them knowing that they’re going to graduate soon and we’ve been working very hard for this moment. Super excited, super happy, but I’m sad that I’m not going to see those 55 seniors anymore starting tomorrow.”

He added that other classes have big shoes to fill, but he believes they’re up to the challenge.

“The kids are working hard day in and day out, from seventh to 12th grade and even at the elementary. So I’m hoping for them, and I know that we’ll get there too.”

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