Santoyo learns about Hispanic heritage on PASF trip to Mexico

Written by: Vicky Camarillo on December 9, 2009 at 12:05 pm

Senior Carmen Santoyo, vice-president of the PASF Spanish club, had a chance to learn more about her Hispanic heritage when she earned a trip to Mexico from Nov. 20-25.

“I’m glad that I got to know more about each state of Mexico and more about where I came from,” Carmen said. “I learned a little bit about the Mayans and Aztecs and how they built the pyramids. I didn’t know that each new era they had to build another coat of rock over the pyramid that already existed.”

Carmen said her favorite sites were the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon as well as the Basilica of Guadalupe, which houses the tilma of Juan Diego on which the Virgen de Guadalupe appeared miraculously in 1531.

“Since I’m a Catholic, I really, really wanted to see la Virgen de Guadalupe right in front of me, and I think that was the most memorable moment for me,” she said. “And the pyramids were very awesome. We had to climb one of them all the way to the top, and the other one we only climbed up halfway, but I think that was cool. It was a lot of exercise too.”

PASF sponsor Jan Peterson was just as excited for Carmen’s opportunity to learn more about her culture.

“Carmen visited numerous cultural sites, including the Palacio del Gobierno with the murals of Diego Rivera and the Casa Azul, which is the house of Frida Kahlo, the most famous Mexican artist,” she said. “She attended the Ballet Folklorico with the presentation of the original dances from Mexico. She visited the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco, which is what is left of the canals of the original Tenochtitlan. She also visited the Museo de Antropologia, which is the Museum of Anthropology with the various ruins, customs and costumes throughout the ages.”

According to the PASF website, PASF sponsors an annual trip to Mexico for high school members “in good standing.”

“To be eligible to go, Carmen had to have attended a previous state convention, her grades were considered, she had to write an essay on why she should be chosen and she had to do research work on 10 specific sites in Mexico City and present them in written form as a tour guide would,” Peterson said. “She did an excellent job, outstanding, and I’m very happy that she was chosen.”

Peterson said Carmen was one of seven students in Texas chosen by the Mexico Cultural Scholarship Committee to go on the trip.

“We can only have one applicant from our school each year,” she said. “The Mexico Cultural Scholarship is worth hundreds, maybe over a thousand dollars to her, but the experience that she has is priceless. She is probably the fourth student to receive the Mexico Cultural Scholarship, and we hope to have many more in the future.”

One student who hopes to go on the trip next year is junior Saul Santoyo, PASF president and brother to Carmen.

“I wanted to apply this year, but there was an option of me going next year because it’s preferably for seniors,” he said. “I asked Carmen if she wanted to go, but she said yes, so then I chose to go next year. I’m looking forward to it.”