Both students and teachers look forward to summer vacation. The last day of school is a relief for children, and for teachers summer is a well-deserved break from a stressful job.
This final day in the classroom is usually a breeze, quickly going by as everyone waits for the last bell of the year to ring. Rarely would students or even teachers look to extend the day even for added learning opportunities.
That was not the case at Buckman Elementary School this week. After that last bell rang, students and their teachers gathered on the hot blacktop with parent volunteers to participate in a New Orleans-style parade, complete with a jazz band, dancing and singing.
Buckman is an elementary school with a focus on arts education. Different arts are a part of every student's experience.
"Through music, art, theatre and creative movement, our award-winning teachers make classroom learning come alive," says the school's website. "The arts specialists also collaborate with the classroom teachers to integrate arts in the core curriculum."
One of these arts specialists is Chisao Hata, the full time dance teacher. Hata participated in an artist residency program in New Orleans and while there she participated in a second line parade.
"She brought it back as an idea for a community event," said Catherine Greenblatt, the parent volunteer organizer of the parade. "The parade brings all the different types of art together."
With a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council the school was able to make the culture of New Orleans a focus for the whole school year. This, according to a letter sent to parents, included bringing in visiting artists for assemblies, staff trainings, a family dance night and other events.
"We are so grateful for the grant!" Greenblatt said. "It made this whole project possible."
This year-long thematic focus culminated on the last day of school with the parade and family picnic.
A New Orleans second line parade is traditionally a part of a funeral service. Mourners follow behind a band, playing somber music on the march to the gravesite. Once the funeral is over, the group marches back dancing, celebrating the person's life.
"Since a second line is quite often a funeral march, and with Lone Fir in the neighborhood we thought it would be great for us to incorporate the cemetery," Greenblatt said.
The Lone Fir Cemetery, owned and operated by Metro, also plays a big role in the school's third grade curriculum. Local history is taught in the third grade, and at Buckman they tell the story of Portland through those buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery. This history all gets artistically expressed through a musical each year.
This year the school connected with the history of the cemetery through the second line parade.
The parade itself began with an exercise in controlled chaos as kids excited about summer strummed on ukuleles, pounded on toy drums or rattled their homemade instruments and played on the jungle gym. Then a booming drum signaled the beginning and kids quickly gathered by grade in a big circle.
Each grade shared some music that they had learned, the musical instruments now showing their purpose. Then a jazz band emerged from the school kicking off the parade and leading the dancing, singing, and energetic kids down Pine Street.
The heat didn't slow anyone down as the band jammed and the kids marched along, winding around Central Catholic High School. Portland police had stopped traffic at two of the busier intersections.
After crossing Stark Street and entering the cemetery, the band's music turned mournful. The kids also started to wander, their curiosity overpowering instructions to stay on the path with the parade.
Kids looked at headstones and tried to guess who was buried in the MacLeay Mausoleum, all while the somber music played. The parade continued through the cemetery toward a site in the southwest corner called Block 14.
Block 14 is the site of a mass grave for Chinese workers who came to Portland in the 19th century to work on the railroad and other infrastructure projects like the sea wall and sewer system. It also contains the interred remains of patients of James Hawthorne's Oregon Hospital for the Insane, which operated in Southeast Portland from 1862-83.
After a brief rest, the Buckman third graders sang a song from their musical about Block 14 and the Chinese immigrants buried there. Then the kids explored the historic cemetery, investigating grave markers and playing in the shade of the trees, before the parade restarted back toward the school.
The band picked up a celebratory tune as they left the cemetery and excitement built for a picnic. The cemetery became peaceful once more, another generation of Portland residents connected to its history.