Festive music, dancing, costume changes – the assembly at Leonard Elementary Friday morning was filled with pageantry as the school celebrated its relationship with its sister school in Mexico.

Fourteen students visiting from Juana de Asbaje, a K-6 public primary school in Tlalnepantla de Baz, near Mexico City, performed four musical numbers, both traditional and modern, that left Leonard students clapping, cheering and smiling from ear to ear.

During their two-week stay, which began April 28, the students are living with Leonard families while they attend classes at Leonard and Lakeville elementary schools and Oxford Middle School.

According to Leonard Principal Paul McDevitt, this is the fourth time Oxford Community Schools has welcomed students from Juana de Asbaje over the last eight years.

McDevitt has fond memories of his visit to the Mexican school. He shared them with the crowd.

“They were very, very good hosts to us while we were there,” he said. “One of the things that I noticed . . . (was that) even though I was in another country far, far away, the students and the parents were just like us. And even though I was very far from home, I felt right at home.”

Pascual Portillo Chavez, principal of Juana de Asbaje, expressed his gratitude for the hospitality shown by Leonard parents, students and staff.

He told the crowd that “children are the future,” so it’s important that they be exposed to “good feelings,” like “sisterhood, peace and love.”