East High taps in to Hispanic culture studies

Students researched noted Hispanics as part of
Hispanic Heritage Month.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Saphawni Williams thought the Dominican Republic was most likely a boring place.

Now, she’d like to visit the Caribbean country.

It’s amazing what a little bit of research can do.

Williams, a sophomore in Margoth Mateo’s Spanish I class at East High School, said she didn’t realize that the island nation was discovered by Christopher Columbus.

“There are a lot of interesting things about the Dominican Republic,” she said.

Williams was one of 125 Spanish I and Spanish II students assigned to research a Hispanic actor, singer, player, writer or politician as part of Hispanic Heritage Month.

When learning the language, there is also a need to also know about the culture, Mateo said, noting there are 39 million Hispanics in the United States.

Students, individually or in teams, conducted the research, made posterboards on what they found and then made presentations to their classmates.

They had to write a paper about the person they chose to research and include information about that person’s country. They also had to read and analyze President Bush’s 2005 proclamation for National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Williams, with a suggestion from Mateo, chose to research Juan Luis Guerra, a Latin musician who turned out to be from the Dominican Republic.

Kirk Davis chose to do his work on Rey Mysterio, a WWE wrestling superstar.

Davis said he’s a fan of professional wrestling and has been to some area matches. His classmates thought Rey Mysterio was pretty cool, he said.

Heidi Wingler and Doniece Fletcher did a joint project, with Wingler focusing on the late Desi Arnaz, actor and bandleader whose family fled Cuba when he was a child. Fletcher chose to research three current reggaeton musical groups — Zion y Lennox, Wisin y Yandel and Rakim & Ken-Y.

“I like all three of the groups personally, and found out they were all from Puerto Rico,” she said.

Samantha Gonzalez said she chose to do her report on Cuba because it is “a country that people would like to know more about.”

Its leader, Fidel Castro, is very ill and people are wondering what will happen when he is gone, Gonzalez said.

She said her research has shown that “it is a beautiful place. I would love to visit.”

Breona Layton chose to focus on the performer Shakira because “I like her music and her style of dancing.” She was surprised to learn that Shakira is 30 years old, pointing out that she looks considerably younger.

Layton said she likes to sing and dance as well, and performs with the school choir.

Does she see career possibilities in that field?

“It’s a ‘maybe’ profession ... but I want to be a veterinarian,” Layton said.

Mateo said she found that including musical stars among the research subjects helped whet her students’ interest in the project.

She was pleased with the results, and so were the students, she said, noting their success in this endeavor will encourage them to keep working.