“We can build a beautiful city,” sings Ana Victoria, in her song “Beautiful City. “Not a city of angels, but finally, a city of man.”
Victoria, a Grammy-nominated Mexican American singer, is also the parent of a student who attends Rayuela School, a Spanish immersion school that launched in Altadena nearly a decade ago.
Known for its play-style approach to learning — ”rayuela,” in English, literally translates to “hopscotch” — the school has drawn a tight-knit community in Altadena. The school has opened two campuses — Rayuela Uno and Rayuela Dos — to accommodate the demand.
Ana Victoria (Photo: Getty Images)But the deadly Eaton fire, which swept through Altadena and parts of Pasadena in January, nearly reduced the beloved Rayuela Uno to rubble, just months before the celebration of its 10th anniversary.
That’s when Victoria realized she could use her musical talents to help raise money to rebuild her son’s school.
But she didn’t do it alone. She recruited the talent of musical artists Lupita Infante, Pablo Hurtado, the Silver Lake Chorus and even Rayuela students. They recorded the song “Beautiful City” in both Spanish and English, reflecting the bilingual nature of the school.
Rayuela’s Founder and Director of Education, Liliana Martinez, said hearing the song and watching its accompanying music video was very emotional.
“The whole process has been kind of numbing,” said Martinez. “This was kind of a realization of the dimension of the tragedy that we didn’t even have time to reflect upon.”
Students at Rayuela School on a recent school day. Photo: Courtesy Liliana Martinez Students at Rayuela School on a recent school day. Photo: Courtesy Liliana Martinez Students at Rayuela School on a recent school day. Photo: Courtesy Liliana Martinez Students at Rayuela School on a recent school day. Photo: Courtesy Liliana Martinez Show Caption1 of 4Students at Rayuela School on a recent school day. Photo: Courtesy Liliana Martinez ExpandThe music video opens with a shot of the remaining play structures amidst the charred, gray rubble.
The song itself is an emotionally evocative power ballad, not unlike the 1985 charity single “We Are the World,” which raised money for famine in Ethiopia, or its 2010 remake for the earthquake in Haiti. The singers hope to help Rayuela reach its fundraising goals to rebuild the school, linking to an existing GoFundMe that was set up by Martinez’s son after the fire. So far, nearly $74,000 of its $100,000 goal has been raised.
Since the fires, Rayuela has since temporarily transitioned to Good Shepherd Lutheran School in Highland Park, thanks to a friend’s daughter who realized the campus might have extra space to accommodate its now 30 students.
Similarly, 10 years ago, it was a parent who found Martinez a space to open Rayuela on Mariposa Street.
“Actually, I didn’t plan this,” said Martinez. “The community told me to do this, and the project was embraced so deeply with the families and with the community that I just continued.”
When her children were in preschool, Martinez realized they would come back speaking English and forgetting Spanish. This panicked Martinez because she primarily spoke Spanish with her husband in the home, and she worried her children wouldn’t be able to communicate with their families.
“I was like, this cannot happen to me, because I have no choice. I need the connection with my kids and my family, and also my husband’s family, because nobody speaks English,” said Martinez.
So, Martinez, who taught Spanish at Oak Knoll Montessori School, took some of that educational philosophy and used it to start Rayuela out of her home. Her first two students were her sons, now 14 and 16 years old. But word spread quickly at the preschool, and soon, parents asked Martinez is she could run a summer program.
The program blossomed to about 50 families, but since the fires, Martinez estimates that the number has gone down to 31-34.
Since transitioning to Highland Park, they’ve also gained interest from families who are local to the neighborhood. But she says not all of her old students can make the commute.
Martinez is optimistic, though, and hopes to re-open the school at its original site, which they own, by September.
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers finished debris removal at the school site in June. Martinez has also since then received help from the Altadena Collective and the Small Business Administration, and some, but “very little,” money from insurance. Now, Martinez feels like they can now do what they dreamt of in the past. She envisions a teacher lounge, bigger classrooms, and retaining its connection to nature.
“By now, we feel we are ready to rebuild… The song is helping us reach that goal to build stronger, better, like the song says.”
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