ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) -- As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close, one Rochester school is celebrating its longstanding program supporting English language learners and their families to keep them coming back generation after generation. The student population at School 28 is approximately 60 percent Hispanic, and 30 percent are bilingual, according to Principal Susan Ladd. "We have students from many different counties. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are the most prevalent, but also from Cuba and Columbia and Ecuador," she explains to News 8's Mikhaela Singleton. Third grader Keilany Perez says there's a lot of things to love about her bilingual education class. "I've been learning how to read a lot in Spanish, like chapter books instead of pictures. Math, because we do it, like, in Spanish and because yesterday, I was the only one who kept answering all the answers," she recounts when asked what makes her classes so fun. Keilany is part of the generations of learning coming out of the school's bilingual program. Her mom, Veronica Guzman Perez—now the bilingual office clerk—went to school here herself after moving from Puerto Rico at the age of four.  "It meant a lot to me, honestly, it really helped me grow to become the person that I am today and able to express myself in any language that I can," she says. "It's amazing! [Keilany has] actually had some of my teachers that I had when I was here as a student." Principal Ladd says when learning English as a second language, their results-driven strategy is to start all learning in Spanish first, then teach subjects in both English and Spanish simultaneously. Not only do students learn faster—they also feel safe to express themselves at their own pace. "They're allowed to speak whatever language they want to speak, and it's widely accepted. No one in here is shaming them for speaking Spanish," Ladd says. Every level PreK through 6th grade has a bilingual class, including both a general education and a special education teacher, to help the kids as they learn and need support transitioning to their lives in the US. "We celebrate their bilingualism. We celebrate their Hispanic heritage," Ladd says. She says she feels especially proud as more and more students graduate with the bilingual seal, meaning they can communicate and write fluently in English and Spanish. Veronica says she also loves her job after coming back to the school to make sure the students' families feel equally supported as they enter the education process. "When parents come in, it makes me happy that I'm able to help them and translate in situations that they're not able to communicate in English to the administrators or teachers," she says.