Every year for the traditional Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos, Razas Unidas, a Garfield student organization, builds a leveled structure called an ofrenda, honoring deceased loved ones. This year, the ofrenda honors the students Garfield has lost including, Amarr Murphy-Paine, Soloman Taylor, Chen-Chen “Harry” Song, and Salvador “Junior” Granillo. Granillo was a member of Razas Unidas and helped build the ofrenda every year.
The ofrenda is decorated with traditional paper marigold flowers (cempasúchil) that has become a beloved tradition for all Garfield students to help make. “It’s been important to us going to all these Spanish classes and talking about all these people that we are putting on our ofrenda,” Razas president Ashley Soria Quiroz said. Razas Unidas intends for the ofrenda to be a way for anyone, regardless of culture, to heal and celebrate life. This year the usual spot of the ofrenda was replaced by security doors. Razas worked with Garfield’s administration on the issue. “When it comes to staff or certain people in the staff, it’s kind of hard to work around the regulations they have and things that we want to portray in the ofrenda,” Cortes-Arias said.
Garfield Spanish teacher and Razas advisor Elizabeth Pérez contributes a huge amount to the project. “The ofrenda in so many ways provides me with some healing and some peace to be able to share stories about [Salvador] with my students or the incoming freshmen who are Razas students who want to learn more about him,” Pérez said. “I think that’s why the community values it so much because it’s not just some flowers on the table, these are lives,” she added. Quiroz said that this particular ofrenda “has definitely been even more of importance because someone we knew, all of us personally, who was a member of our club, was affected and now we have to do something we didn’t even imagine we’d have to do so soon.”
Garfield senior Tassanee Hill, conveyed the impact of these students through an art piece she made that is situated behind the ofrenda. This 4×10 ft piece showcases the faces of Amarr, Soloman, and Salvador. “I feel like this project is really emotional because to be the one to show life in someone that lost their life is super, hard to do,” Hill said. She hid elements in the painting like the birth and passing dates of the victims in the sunrise and sunset. The background depicts the ferris wheel where Amarr and Salvador worked together, whereas the football field shows the passion for football Amarr and Soloman shared. Hill worked on this piece with help from Pérez, painting butterflies in the background, as Pérez suggested, to symbolize death. Hill hopes “that it brings a sense of community and [people] see that even though they had their differences, these are still kids at the end of the day, and they’re all connected in some way.” The future of her piece is unknown as the Seattle Public Schools district has a policy against permanent memorials in schools.
Amarr, Salvador, Soloman, and Harry live on through the ofrenda and every story that is shared about them. Brooke Kircher, one of Amarr’s teachers, said, “Amarr is a student I will never forget. He was someone you wanted to root for. I think Amarr’s legacy was joy…” Kircher continued, saying, “the ofrenda honors the legacy by ensuring that those who have passed, like Amarr, are remembered and celebrated. It serves as a powerful reminder that their lives and contributions—especially the joy and love they brought to the world—are not forgotten.” When asked about Amarr, Hill said “I want to share that on the painting, he doesn’t really smile, so it was kind of hard to show the personality that he had, but people that do know him know that he had so much personality.”
“The ofrenda is just a truly lovely gesture in general.” Atticus McClure, a Garfield student who was close with Harry, said. McClure has found some comfort in the ofrenda, adding that “the time and effort people have been putting into these sorts of things in honoring Harry makes me feel immensely happy, despite how disheartening and desolating it has been.” He described Harry as “such a fun, and curious, and kind, and incredible person,” that Garfield was lucky to have. “So I suppose that in these actions, we spread those sentiments and notions, we share the love that he shared with many of us. And that’s just beautiful to me.”
Symira Aaron, one of Soloman’s friends, said she wants him “to be shown as the funny and caring person he was. Once you got to know him it was nothing but a great time and laughter. He cared for and loved those he was close to and being able to experience that is something I’ll never forget.” Aaron said that “the ofrenda brings the community together. We get to honor those we lost all together not just by ourselves, no one is alone in their hurt.” Another of Soloman’s friends, Cohen Springer, says the ofrenda honors not just who Soloman was “but how he laughed or smiled or would have your back, and really how he was. I hope the ofrenda shares his will, he always had fight in him, he was never one to give up,” Springer continued.
One of Salvador’s close friends, April Suazo, who graduated from Garfield last year as a Razas Unidas member, has come back to help with this year’s ofrenda. “This year is definitely a big, different year because usually Junior would be helping out, and now it’s our turn to be doing it for him,” Suazo said. Suazo described Salvador as “a light in people’s life… you just see him and he’ll always make you laugh or smile. That was just part of him and who he was…always trying to help.” Salvador’s passing was felt deeply by everyone in Razas Unidas and his community. Pérez said he had “that infectious smile, the energy, the hope that he brought anywhere he went and now he leaves us.” Cortes-Arias said she “saw how much his passing impacted my boyfriend and impacted all of his friends that I became friends with, and they graduated, so I definitely want to keep that memory alive for them.” She continued, saying “I never would have pictured seeing anybody who I saw daily and in the club and just this big person, literal ray of sunshine, on the ofrenda. So I think for my personal goal, it’s mostly about keeping him alive for everybody else.”
All Garfield students are welcome to contribute to the ofrenda with photos of their passed loved ones. The ofrenda is now finished, along with Hill’s art, and is displayed to the right of the front entrance. Pérez describes the bittersweet moment as a time to celebrate. “I didn’t want us to focus so much on the sadness, but more on the joy that these humans have brought to our school and the memories that they’ve left behind,” she said. “That’s what the ofrenda does, it brings joy. It brings happiness. It’s a project of love, and it’s how, as a community, we come together, and we create space for healing.”
