Building connections at Elsie Allen

<p>How much good comes from organizing a community fair?</p><p>Lots.</p><p>That's what English teacher Lisa DeCarbo and her students say they discovered putting together the second annual Lobo Community Fair held Sunday at Elsie Allen High School.</p><p>Hundreds of people attended the music-laden carnival meant to bring teachers, students, families and local community members closer together.</p><p>For the students, it proved a tangible lesson of what they could accomplish working together.</p><p>“You realize there are all these opportunities to make things happen,” said Sabina Tah, 16.</p><p>Tah and fellow junior Cecilia Estupinan, 16, looked on Sunday with wonderment at the event they helped create, which included a 15-member mariachi band, a live petting zoo and plenty of eating opportunities squeezed into the high school's central courtyard.</p><p>“It makes you feel more empowered,” Estupinan said.</p><p>The students took a lead role in organizing this year's event, DeCarbo said.</p><p>“This year I wanted to teach them to do it,” she said. “I groomed them to understand the etiquette and protocols of reaching out to the community for donations and involvement.”</p><p>Dozens of local organizations set up booths this year, including the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, the Santa Rosa Junior College and the Santa Rosa Fire Department, which also brought a fire engine to Sunday's event.</p><p>The Spanish-language station Radio Lazer, 107.1 FM, provided free air-time for the students to run a commercial recorded by Estupinan and Tah.</p><p>For Tah's mother, who was born in Mexico and speaks limited English, hearing her daughter on the radio and attending Sunday's event helped her feel more connected to both the school and the Santa Rosa community.</p><p>“I feel more united with everyone, like we're being part of the school,” Ana Tah said.</p><p>She said that immigrant parents can feel isolated from their children's American school experience, which can result in an unsafe separation between parent and child.</p><p>“At this event, parents get to know their children better, and also their friends and teachers,” Tah said. “It can help prevent gangs.”</p><p>The idea of bringing parents deeper into the education process was the original intent behind the community fair, DeCarbo said. Two years ago she held a Sunday afternoon BBQ for students and parents. About 50 people showed up and mingled in a festive environment that included smashing a pinata. For some parents, it was their first time on campus that didn't involve a disciplinary issue or parent-teacher meeting.</p><p>The next year she worked with about 20 students and 20 staff members to organize the first community fair. This year the turnout was even larger, and brought in a wider array of businesses and local organizations.</p><p>“We are trying to build tradition,” DeCarbo said. “We are trying to build relations.”</p>