Academy

Driving up the sinuous highway of Chiapas, I look out the Taxi window and to see a gentle smog coating the valley of Tuxtla. Mountains hugging the city tower over the small clusters of homes, making them look like little specks of vibrant colors painted on a ginormous canvas. Gorgé, Doctora’s husband, is mumbling Spanish to the driver in the front seat. I can barely hear, but pick upservicio and Chiapas.I fill in the rest in my head, and assume they're talking about what our group is doing in Chiapas. At this moment, I ask myself the same question, What are we doing here?

The morning after our ascent into the mountains, we settled into our hotel in San Cristobal, and then set off to the indigenous community of Chenalho. The trek took about an hour, an extra twenty minutes were added to take scenic pictures of the breathtaking views. Once we reached the mountain summit and began to descend to the other side, the landscape changed. Lush, green fields stretched as far as my eyes could see with modest homes speckled across the landscape. We finally reached our destination, Margarita’s home. There, we met her two daughters and their children. Doctora greeted them all with hugs, and introduced us. In the indigenous communities of Chiapas they speak Tzotzil and little Spanish, so most of our communication was through smiles and head nods. After chasing Margharita’s grandchildren up their backyard hill 50 times, we returned to San Cristobal and awaited our next day’s adventure.

On Sunday morning, we again ventured through the mountains to the community of Chenalho. However, instead of going to Margharita’s home, we went to her mother’s. Her mother’s aqua-green home was atop of a steep farm field and the only way up was to trek through the muddy corn field. Once we reached the top, we were welcomed by the families of the children our club supports. They motioned us to enter the vibrant home and immediately pulled tiny woodensillas out for our group to sit on Once adjusted, Antonio, the man who helps distribute the money we raise for the children, ushered them to stand in a line in front of us. In Spanish, Antonio introduced the seven children we support. Their ages ranged from eight to fourteen. He explained how important our work is and the difference we make in the children’s’ lives.

The money our club raises (see Gannon's recent Blog) makes education accessible to the children because it provides them with the necessities needed to stay in school. At this moment, our efforts to raise money became something tangible. We are changing the lives of several children by providing them with means to achieve an education. With an education the doors to their futures are opened, allowing them to branch from their indigenous community and have lives of their own. With this idea in mind, my question I had at the beginning of the trip was finally answered.

SSA will be hosting World Individual Speech and Public Speaking Contest (WIDPSC) during spring break! I am not a speech and debate team member nor will I be in Pittsburgh during spring break but I still wanted to contribute to this event, so I was thrilled to hear that I could help by making a banner for the event. I volunteered immediately.

Here’re the requirements. The banner will be 38” by 90”, and the theme will be WIDPSC. I want it to symbolize, if not realistically depict like a photograph, a scene of the event. I will create this banner digitally in Photoshop, and then order a print online and have it sent to me.