One float, one family

Students from elementary through high school are each contributing a piece to ENLACE’s Diez y Seis de Septiembre parade float, bringing their individual work together in a display of collaboration, leadership and cultural pride. 

That process has become an annual tradition for ENLACE, a college and career readiness program serving students from elementary through high school. While students spend much of the year at different campuses, the Diez y Seis de Septiembre Parade gives them an opportunity to contribute to one shared project. 

“The word ENLACE comes from the Spanish word “enlazar,” which means to link or to interweave,” said Adrian Gaytan, an ENLACE instructor at Zia Middle School. “If you think about a rope, there are all these smaller ropes tied together, and they make one stronger rope.” 

Teachers from participating schools meet during the summer to plan the year and select a parade theme. This year’s float will celebrate Lotería, with each campus designing a panel inspired by the iconic Mexican game before volunteers assemble the finished display. 

Students decorate pegboard panels with artwork unique to their schools, while teachers, families and former participants build the framework that brings everything together. 

“We make the little piece that becomes the bigger picture,” Gaytan said. 

For Gaytan, the float represents more than a parade tradition. He said the project helps students see themselves as part of a larger community, even as they move from elementary school to middle school and eventually high school. 

“We want our kids that are in elementary school to see the kids in middle school,” Gaytan said. “Then middle school students know they already have that family waiting for them in high school.” 

For ENLACE’s youngest participants, the experience begins at Mesilla Elementary School, where Henry Jasso is the program’s only elementary instructor in Las Cruces Public Schools. Now in his seventh year with ENLACE, Jasso said the program reaches students at a pivotal point as they prepare for middle school.

C“It gives students a platform and an opportunity to explore themselves,” Jasso said. “They have questions about themselves, school and their future.” 

The parade offers another milestone for students who have often experienced the tradition only as spectators. 

“Some of these kids have grown up seeing this parade,” Jasso said. “Now they get to be part of it.” 

Ramón Padilla, a social studies teacher at New America School who has been involved with ENLACE for about a decade, sees the experience come full circle.  

“I think students really hope to learn more about their identity and their culture,” Padilla said. “They’re drawn by that. They’re drawn by hoping to create a sense of family at the school.” 

Each high school contributes its own panel before it is attached to the completed float, allowing students to showcase their creativity while contributing to something larger than any individual campus.  

“The elementary school students, they’re not just learning from the older students,” Padilla said. “They’re actually teaching the older students, and that’s kind of the beautiful thing.” 

As a social studies teacher, Padilla also sees the parade as an opportunity to celebrate the history of Mesilla and southern New Mexico. He said the annual tradition encourages students to recognize the community’s ties to Mexico while honoring the people and stories that shaped the region. 

“For me, ENLACE and the Diez y Seis de Septiembre Parade were made for each other,” Padilla said. 

When ENLACE’s float makes its way through Mesilla this September, spectators will see colorful Lotería artwork, students celebrating together and a tradition that returns each year.