The Spanish Club is one of the most popular after-school programs at Indian Trace Elementary. Not only is it fun and educational, but also highly competitive. Throughout the school year, Spanish Teacher Beatriz Cuervo coaches the students as they prepare for Broward Schools’ annual World Language District Competition. This past school year, the school had 19 students compete and they all took home gold medals.
“The results of their hard work, dedication, passion and commitment was nothing but remarkable,” stated Señora Cuervo.
Ella Peretz, Gabriel Mendez and Emma Beltz all won gold medals in the Declamation category, which required students to recite a poem in Spanish. Ella’s poem was dedicated to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, while Gabriel’s was inspired by author Nicomedes Santacruz. Emma chose to recite the popular children’s poem La Vaca Estudiosa (The Studious Cow), about a cow that wanted to go to school and, despite being told cows were not supposed to study, persevered and challenged those who opposed her.
For the Skit category, six members of the Spanish Club performed a play based on the bestselling book by Chilean author Enrique Barrios, Ami, el Niño de las Estrellas (Ami, Child of the Stars). It’s about a young boy who is rude to a classmate, but then befriends an extraterrestrial girl. She takes him to visit the moon and her planet. While in space, the boy learns several valuable lessons on humanity, the value of friendship, and environmental awareness. Congratulations to Anabella Sanchez, Camila Herrera, Daniella Aguirre, Sofia Pereira, Javier Sanchez and Adrian Alvarez for their stellar performance.
Indian Trace Elementary also received gold medals in the Talent category. Students performed a beautifully choreographed dance to La Vida es Un Carnaval (Life is a Party), a famous salsa song performed by Celia Cruz. Congratulations to Nicholas DeMarco, Isaac Callaui, Maily Ortiz, Nicole Schoening, Kayis Yacinthe, Dahlia Benitez, Daniela Cordova, Bianca Torres, Alek Chaussky, and Victor Herrero.
Señora Cuervo says she is extremely proud of all of her students and hopes they learned a lesson about the power of perseverance. “To see you being acknowledged for what you accomplished is very rewarding. Take this experience to show you that you can do anything you set your mind to do as long as you are willing to work for it.”