Students, staff celebrate 'superhero' La ola del lago custodian receiving citizenship

Prior Lake American

Though it was summer, a group of children and parents showed up to La ola del lago Spanish Immersion School on Tuesday morning.

The group was there to celebrate the school’s custodian Silvestre Sanchez, who recently became a United States citizen.

“He is always willing to help, he is always smiling,” La ola del lago Principal Richie Kucinski said. “He knows all the kids by name ... He’s kind of the superhero of our school.”

Sanchez moved to the United States from Mexico in 1985 and has worked at La ola del lago for about two years.

“He’s just this important person, always giving, always has a great work ethic and always includes the kids,” La ola del lago secretary Jodi Anderson said. “He is a very important part of the school. Everybody looks up to Silvestre.”

Sanchez said he is “reserved” and so didn’t share the news of his citizenship with many people, though he did tell Anderson. Anderson and several other staff members attended Sanchez’s citizenship ceremony on June 27.

“The children love him — he’s an integral part of La ola del lago,” Anderson said. “It’s a huge event in his life and certainly we want to celebrate with someone who is impacting our children. ... For them to see an adult become a citizen and celebrate that is very important.”

Several parents decided to plan a surprise party for Sanchez after learning about the news on a Facebook post, which was flooded with “likes” and congratulatory comments.

“It started small with a, ‘I’ll stop by and give him a card’ and it turned into this,” Kucinski said. “We’re a Spanish immersion school, so global thinking and cultural diversity is a huge part of what we do. It’s a celebration that he worked hard and accomplished something — it’s nice to celebrate people for their hard work and if anybody deserves something like this, it’s him.”

This led to Sanchez walking out the door of Edgewood School on Tuesday to a chorus of children saying “felicidades, señor Sanchez!” while waving American flags. Sanchez laughed and replied “para mi?” which means “for me?” in Spanish, before giving high fives to all the children.

“They didn’t know I was going through that process because I didn’t tell anyone ... I’m just that way, I’m kind of reserved,” Sanchez said. “Having them come over and congratulating me for that, I was just speechless. I didn’t know what to say. It was a surprise.”

One of the parent party organizers, Sallisha Armour, said Sanchez represents why many parents chose for their children to attend La ola del lago.

“I think it’s highly important we raise our children to operate globally and have a sensitivity to and knowledge of other cultures,” Armour said.

Sanchez said he is looking forward to voting and being able to leave the country and stay for a long time if need be. He said his favorite part about working at La ola del lago is speaking with the children in his first language.

“What I really, really like and enjoy is talking with the students in Spanish,” Sanchez said. “That’s my favorite. I get to interact with them in my own language. It means a lot because I see their future is not only tied to one language. They can have more opportunities to expand, to grow.”