Del Mar High School celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month as IB Spanish students explore their cultural identities through words. Students craft songs and poems reflecting their Hispanic heritage. This project honors Latin American history and independence while allowing students to express their experiences and pride.
Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, began in 1968 as a week-long event and was extended to a month by President Ronald Reagan 20 years later. This period includes important independence anniversaries for several Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
The observance highlights the history and achievements of Hispanic and Latino Americans, creating community and inspiring future generations—a goal recently embraced by an IB Spanish student project.
Carolina Olavarria, an IB Spanish teacher, developed a project to encourage students to explore their cultural identities or those of people close to them. This marks Olavarria’s second year teaching IB Spanish Year 1 and Spanish 2 at Del Mar, but it’s her first time assigning this project to her IB students.
Students were tasked with writing songs in Spanish, choosing their favorite music as inspiration for their lyrics; however, many composed poems instead. They had the option to create their songs or poems individually or collaboratively with peers, with about two weeks to work on them before submitting their projects.
“One thing that I always wanted to do in my classrooms with heritage students is to make sure that they’re proud of where they’re coming from and what their family history is,” Olavarria shares. “At Del Mar, we are very lucky to have such a diverse group of students, and you know, I wanted to take that and use it right? So open our eyes and see all the diversity that we have around us and, you know, be able to grow from that and teach each other about our different cultures.”
Olavarria describes the importance of learning about diverse cultures within Hispanic heritage, with students sharing aspects of their cultures from countries like El Salvador, Columbia, and Mexico. Olavarria notes her students ”learned what the differences are and also what we all have in common.”
Through their songs and poems, students at Del Mar have brought to life the vibrant and diverse experiences of Hispanic heritage. You can find songs and poems submitted by IB students in Olavarria’s class in the feature section of our website.
