March is Music In Our Schools Month as well as Youth Art Month.

And throughout the show, we'll shine the spotlight on some incredible student musicians, artists, and programs.

We began with National Champions Mariachi Los Pumas de K.O.

Knudson.

(male voice) [in Spanish]...middle school el Mariachi Los Pumas-- (Carla Beltran) A lot of us were shocked.

We didn't know if we should go up stage or like-- we were still processing.

Like me, when I heard that we got first place, I was like, I stayed frozen for like a good five seconds.

[cheers and applause] -It was a surreal moment for the talented students who make up Mariachi Los Pumas de K.O.

Knudson.

[cheers and applause] (Aileen Estrella) I was so shocked.

Like, if you saw the video they recorded, I was saying, No way.

I was like, No way.

Is this true?

-Oh, it's true.

And this incredible honor, well deserved and long overdue.

(Johnny Gonzalez) We competed at the 30th Annual Mariachi Extravaganza in San Antonio, Texas, which is the largest national mariachi competition for school groups, middle school and high school.

♪♪♪ We've been competing at this event every year that I've been here, so for the past 13 years.

And this is the first time that we've won.

-The first national title trophy will soon be joining the many trophies Mariachi Los Pumas has won since the program started 20 years ago.

-We always go out and do events in the community.

Parents love it, you know, the mariachi, and it just does a good job of bringing the community in.

And we've become like this tight knit group, and it helps the students to become more involved in school.

-Everybody in the group, we all put our effort, and I see that, all of us, we work hard because we all have the same objective.

We all want to make sure this group is strong.

-This group is also strong thanks in part to their dedicated mariachi instructors.

-I'm one of two directors.

Our other amazing director who's in charge of our violins and our voices is Yasmin Duenas.

[singing] We're fortunate here that we have a harp instructor, Hector Aguilar.

I'll give him a little shout-out.

-Well, like everyone here is super talented.

And like, working together with him is like, I'm honored.

-This honor and national title, also a win for their school, the community, and their families.

-Like we, as the teachers, we teach the kids and they go perform.

But none of what we do with mariachis Los Pumas would be possible without the parents' support.

So I think for them, I was most happy for them and their sacrifice because, like I mentioned, 13 years-- this was 13 years in the making.

I had family members and parents and alumni, former students going all the way back to the beginning that were congratulating us, and they felt like this was their victory as well.

-One, two... ♪ Los Pumas!

♪♪ -Bravo!

Que Orgullo, so very proud.

We are also proud of Mariachi Los Gavilanes de Monaco Middle School.

These talented musicians placed 3rd in this important competition, so two CCSD schools in the top three.

That is pretty impressive.

Congratulations.