Strong Roots Branching Out

Strong+Roots+Branching+Out

Skydiving, zip lining, bungee jumping, traveling around the world, all have fallen under someone’s bucket list at a certain point in life. For 17 Alisal High students, spring break meant crossing off “Travel to Spain” off their bucket list.

Many at Alisal High come from Mexican families who don’t really earn the amount of income to make traveling out of the country a reality. Traveling for most, if coming from a strong rooted Mexican family, is no farther than Mexico and even then it is due to working parents or family emergencies, not quite just for fun.

First year Alisal High AP Spanish teacher, Julio Gonzalez, noticed many clubs sparking students’ interest in traveling to Japan or even Washington, D.C., decided to offer another destination. Gonzalez first shared his idea with his students, and after seeing their reaction, presented it to Mr. Garcia. Gonzalez said, “The biggest idea behind the trip is just to get to know what is out there. The world is a beautiful place. We see in the news a lot of negativity, but, the news is the news. The world has so many things to offer and so much culture in terms of food, art, and languages.”

Traveling, in general, is expensive and even more so when going abroad. The cost per student was $3,600 for the eight day trip . Gonzalez said, “The money went into covering, tour guide and tips, bus driver tips, transportation cost, and I had parents to drive and I had to pay them, fuel costs for suburbans, meal costs, I was able to take enough money where I was able to cover some meals for students that didn’t take enough money.”  The meal costs were only for lunch since breakfast and dinner were included for the students. Even though the cost was high for the trip, many students didn’t let that scare them away. Junior Giselle Ruiz says, “When I saw the cost I compared it to the Dream Academy trip I went to and that was $2,000, but, then I thought to myself it’s outside of the continent is it worth it? I talked to my parents and they agreed  that it was a once in a lifetime experience so I went.” Junior Alexander Ramirez, said, “I was annoyed that it cost that much because I knew right away that my parents would say no to it, so I kept bugging them about it and they eventually caved in. I really wanted to watch the soccer game, but, we didn’t do that and at the end it was still a great trip.”

In order to get the money, Gonzalez, other teachers, and students started fundraising in late October of 2016. They sold elotes at last year’s posada, food at soccer games and during winter intersession, which equaled $1,200. While Gonzalez provided his own ways of fundraising, many students fundraised on their own, like junior Adrian Lara Maldonado. Maldonado said, “I helped in last year’s posada, but I raised on my own too. I would sell Uncrustables and that alone brought me with the amount of $800 raised by myself.”

Gonzalez and the students started their journey to Spain on April 7th, and they returned April 15th. They visited a total of five cities: Madrid, Toledo, Valencia, Tarragona, and Barcelona. Gonzalez said, “I think those were the best ones that I selected because you get a little bit of modern history with older history that deals with the Spanish Civil War and the Spanish conquest. In Madrid and Barcelona, you have your contemporary stuff and then in toledo, Valencia, and Tarragona you have more of your ancient civilizations that used to be there.” Junior Anthony Garcia said, “I was excited for this trip when I first heard about it. I always dreamed of traveling and it now turning to a reality and be able to get the experience at a young age was awesome.” Sophomore Marco Melena said, “I always wanted to go to Spain, mainly because that’s where my favorite soccer team comes from Real Madrid. Most importantly I liked the trip since got to meet new people from different places.”

Traveling out of the country on your own, with no parents, eating different foods, and getting to know new people affected many of the students in positive ways. Junior Giselle Ruiz said, “I learned that, basically we were on our own and that made me be more aware of my surroundings. That and I realized, if we just get up and get out of our country there is way more stuff that you can go and explore.” Alfonso Hernandez said, “Out of all the cities we visited, my favorite was Madrid just because I go for the (soccer) team, Real Madrid. The food on the other hand was not to Hernandez’s liking. “I didn’t like the food that much, the main dish over there is called Paella.” According to Emely Bermudez, this trip helped her build on her dreams, “The trip made me want to travel more, so that makes me want to have a better future in order to have the money to do so.”

Overall, the Spain trip was a success in the way that it gave that “dream big” feeling and that of being open to new experiences. Many of the students who have really strong roots in Salinas have now started to branch out and have started to see what else is out there for them. Gonzalez said he plans to make more trips, starting with next year’s trip to France and Italy during spring break. For spring break of 2018, Gonzalez picked those two places “for the iconic landmarks, great destinations, food, culture, soccer and many more.” Junior Beverly Lemus, an interested student, sees this trip as a dream trip. She said,  “I want to go to France and Italy because one of my dreams has always been to visit the Eiffel Tower and the Roman Colosseum. I believe I will gain the knowledge of different cultures, foods, festivals and become more open-minded.”