Hispanic Heritage Month concludes this month, and this time of year provides Haynes students the opportunity to reflect on their intercultural competence, one element of the E.L. Haynes Graduate Profile. At school, students are growing their ability to communicate and engage across cultures, especially those of their families and traditions. Several high schoolers took the opportunity to reflect on their personal connections to their Hispanic heritage.
High school junior Marelis was able to connect with her family last summer on a trip to El Salvador, but definitely felt culture shock after growing up in DC. “I didn’t know we lived in such a country part—I thought we lived more in the city. It took a lot of adjusting,” she said. “I got to experience what my parents went through. Well, not to their full extent, but a part of it.”
“You hear roosters every morning. And you’ll see cows, cabras, or goats, and you can get fresh milk,” Marelis said. She felt most connected to their family through food. “My mom and her brother who came here with her, they opened up a restaurant that served food from our culture,” they said. “That’s how we don’t forget our roots.”
“My mom and her brother who came here with her, they opened up a restaurant that served food from our culture,” they said. “That’s how we don’t forget our roots.”
Marelis, 11th Grade Student
Jonathan, also in 11th grade, stays connected to his family in Honduras through Facetime and their yearly visits to the U.S. He hopes to travel to Copan, his family’s hometown, for the first time before starting college. “Honduras seems rural, peaceful. The neighborhoods are not like anything I’ve ever seen in the U.S.”
A family reunion last summer helped Jonathan connect more with his Honduran roots. “There’s this one cousin, Huguito, who resembles me, that I met for the first time,” he said. “Seeing him and my uncle together, it really connected me to where I come from.”
For 12th grader Monica, religion and family traditions keep her connected to her Mexican roots. Monica was born in the United States, but moved back to Mexico when she was one year old, and lived with her mother and aunt in Mexico City for seven years. Mexican and Catholic traditions shaped her time there.
“We did el doce de diciembre, which is when you celebrate the day of the Virgin Mary, and throughout the neighborhood we would come out, sing prayers, and do posadas, where you knock on doors,” Monica said. She reflected on her family’s impact as well. “I feel like they’ve done so much for me, they’ve watched me grow up, and I feel like I still need to be connected to my aunts and uncle, and my uncle’s family. They were like my second grandparents – they taught me how to play chess and sew flowers, so that still stays with me.”
Monica has kept busy in high school, taking multiple AP classes, serving as co-captain of the AP Spanish Translators, and participating in summer programs at Princeton and Yale. However, she said that the grind of academics has created some distance between her and her heritage.
“I told my mom that once I finish this year, before I go to college, I want to go back to Mexico and see my family.” Monica said. “I decided that once I graduate, I can go visit because I won’t be so worried about building my resume.”
By engaging with their cultures – on family trips and while living abroad – these high schoolers exemplify the idea of intercultural competence. While not all students shared the same sentiments about their heritage, their experiences helped them connect more authentically with their backgrounds, their families, and their traditions.
Written by Griffin Pepper | Griffin teaches 12th grade History at E.L. Haynes.
Editorial Fellows are E.L. Haynes staff with a penchant for storytelling, writing, and the visual arts. Fellows develop and publish original stories that amplify the many voices and perspectives of the E.L. Haynes community.