By: Ashmar Mandou

San Miguel School has been serving up some of the best cuisine and exciting entertainment for the people of the Back of the Yards community for Cinco de Mayo.

This year is no different. For the sixth straight year, parents, teachers, and students have met to celebrate the history of Cinco de Mayo while promoting another side to their community. “We hear so many negative comments about our community, people tend to focus on the violence, but there is so much more to Back of the Yards,” said Sandra Alvarez, whose children attend San Miguel School.

San Miguel School’s sixth annual Cinco de Mayo Neighborhood and Community Festival arose out of a need to showcase the vibrancy of the community with music, culture, the arts, and food. “It’s so much fun to see everyone together enjoying the fest,” said Maria Esparza, who heads the Cinco de Mayo Festival committee and is also a parent of a San Miguel student. “We have fun putting this festival together and we try to make each year better than the last.”

Last year, more than 400 guests attended the festival, which helped to raise $20,000 in scholarships for students at San Miguel’s Back of the Yards campus. This year, Principal of San Miguel School Chicago Tad Smith, hopes to have the same outcome. “We really want residents and those outside of the Back of the Yards community to come and enjoy the festival and show their support,” said Smith.

In 1995, San Miguel School Chicago began in a convent dining room in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Eighteen years and more than 1,000 students later, San Miguel has become a model of success and hope. Ninety-two percent of San Miguel alumni graduate from high school, and 72 percent are involved in post-secondary education, often the first of their families to go to college. San Miguel is not tuition driven – 95 percent of funding comes from donors. “I just feel like San Miguel School is one of those best kept secrets in the community, where not too many people know of the wonderful things we are doing here at this school. So, that’s why I love having a festival like our Cinco de Mayo festival that showcases the tremendous talent we have here in our own community.”

San Miguel is located at 1954 S. 48th St. The sixth annual Cinco de Mayo Neighborhood and Community Festival will be held on Sunday, May 5th.