Wabash High School - Sycamore Yearbook (Wabash, IN)

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M. W ' rfx - 1 ! ! ! T t%v --- A 4-W 1 ■ ■ ■ m uring spring vacation, members of the Spanish class and former students of the language, as well as teacher-sponsor Shirley jagger, traveled to Monterey, Mexico, to in- crease their knowledge of the language. The name given to the pro- gram was Vista Real, which means the real view . Jagger wanted her students to get the overall picture of what life in Mexico is like. The students traveling were Beth Proctor, Tammy Weimer, Jim King, Norman Coots, and Richard Shively. On the first day (Friday, March 29), the group was in- vited to a family reunion by the Antonio Garcia family, who own a restaurant in Fort Wayne and have helped jag- ger with the travel program. The next few days were filled with visiting people and places around the Monterey area. The purpose of visiting these people, besides just meeting them, was to have the students practice the language as well as see the broad spectrum of living problems in Mexico. This spectrum went from Guajardo ' s own house, which would be considered fine in any country, to some areas of the city where houses are often made from such things f ■ ' ■■ as bare concrete, scrap wood,i| and metal. j The overriding impressionn ' from all of these people,; ' lower to upper classes, is thatit they are happy with theirii conditions, even the workers? who can never hope to get , more than four dollars a day. for their long day in the fac- tory. This feeling is prevalent ' throughout the country and isi evident to every visitor of the area. While there, the members of the group were i rarely treated rudely, even i while they were fumbling fon words. Rather, the natives are helpful to non-Spanish speakers to learn the language. While in Mexico, the group Zo Mexican Trip

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■ Move over, Ginger and Fred. Chris Gackenheimer dreams that she and Al Plummer are the next Rogers and Astaire. Spring Musical Z7 J

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f ySIowr.rliie: Richard Shiv.ely ;s horseback to get a o;ser k.at the ri! ;ail£alls. t Sk ▼ Checkers anyone? Although this ooks like a game board, it is actually a bird ' s-eye view of a Mexican cafe. ' Cool temptation. Jim King. Tam- my Weimer. and Richard Shively admire the water fountain in front of their hotel. iw several interesting sights id went on guided tours, hey toured a large, palatial riental-style house which IS a unique history. It seems lat it had been owned by a itired naval officer and his ife. They had moved to [exico to set up a private ihool for the best students in le world. This idea was emulated by his wife, who anted to take the best stu- 3nt from every country in le world, put them together a private school environ- ent, and educate them to be le leaders of their nations, his way, world peace would nally be established. Unfor- mately, the plan was never irried out. The home, however, remains. Along the major roads and highways of Mexico, it is possible to see small monuments and crosses in- scribed with names just off to the side of the road. These monuments can be anything from a single stone cross to an elaborate shrine of marble and flowers. Their purpose is to identify the exact spot at which some person died along the road, either from natural causes or a traffic ac- cident. The monuments are placed there by the remain- ing family members of the deceased and are taken care of (decorated with fresh flowers daily, kept clean, or kept intact) by mourners for six years, after which they must be taken down. By this time most of the family members no longer need or want a reminder of the death of the deceased. While on another such road trip, the guide described to the group the natural wealth of the nation. Although usually considered poor, Mexico is a leading producer of oil, copper, gold, silver, and natural gas. In fact, Mexico supplied 21.7 percent of the world ' s natural gas and is the fourth largest producer of oil in the world. Through this trip, the language students discovered what life in Mexico is really like. They also learned the similarities between the U.S. and Mexico: both have huge automobile plants (Mexico is a major producer of Volkswagon), both share similar tastes (people in Mex- ico, on the average, drink more soft drinks, especially Coke, than Americans do), and both countries have dif- ferent classes rather than one single grouping of people. These facts and others helped give Wabash students the real view of life in Mexico and showed what the purpose of such a travel pro- gram is. Mexican Trip Zy