Joyful shouts and chatter in English and Spanish filled the halls of Jackson Hole High School last week for an annual celebration of the dual immersion program.Dual immersion — meaning equal numbers of native Spanish speakers and English speakers share a classroom and....

learn half the day in each language — is a program Teton County School District introduced in 2009. The program is designed to help bring up the test scores of students who don’t speak English as their first language, while promoting multiculturalism.

The year-end celebration is a time to showcase the work of the students in the program and gather families for a potluck dinner. There are roughly 600 students in the program, which spans kindergarten through eighth grade currently and will expand into high school in the fall.

Read more: Jackson Hole News & Guide