Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown Rayen Early College High School had a day of activities Friday to mark its first anniversary on West Wood Street and to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

Festivities began with a morning parade from the DoubleTree Hotel on Central Square and traveling up Wick Avenue to the school at 20 W. Wood St. The parade showcased the flags of Hispanic countries and featured student art.

“The parade is a beautiful display of hard work, creativity, cross- curricular collaboration and design from our ninth- and 10th-grade art studio scholars facilitated by veteran art teacher Kathy Santisi,” Monica Jones, principal / dean at Rayen Early College High School, said. Marines Ramos, Spanish teacher and La Fiesta coordinator, “birthed this vision of cultural celebration and appreciation through the power of the arts. The brilliance of ingenuity, creativity and teamwork of scholars and the staff will be on display.”

The celebration, dubbed Fiesta on the Wood, included food, performances, music and speakers.

“It’s the first anniversary of us being in the new location,” Ramos said. “It’s the first year we’ve had Rayen in the name, and it’s also Hispanic Heritage Month.”

YRECHS, formerly housed inside Youngstown State University’s Fedor Hall, moved into 20 W. Wood St., the former school district administration building, before the start of the 2018-19 school year. The YREC building is on the site of the original Rayen School.

“When we moved in here, we thought it would be fitting to add ‘Rayen’ to our name to preserve that history and to honor the memory of Judge Rayen,” Jones said.

Judge William Rayen died in 1854, but his estate provided funds for a trust and the founding of The Rayen School, where all of Youngstown’s children could be educated.

It was built in 1866 and became the first public school in Mahoning County.

The Rayen School moved to Benita Avenue when a new building was erected there in 1922, but the school district tore that down in 2007 as part of a districtwide rebuilding program.