Hispanic Students Compete in Cinco de Mayo Bowl

Hispanic students from eight local high schools competed last Friday night in the 14th Annual Cinco de Mayo Bowl at  (HPHS).

The competition is a Jeopardy-like game that tests knowledge on Hispanic-American history. While the Giants may not have fared as well as they hoped -- Warren Township High School swept both varsity and junior varsity tournaments--the host school did show all of the 150 who attended a good time.

In addition to the competition, HPHS presented the students with a special question-and-answer session and the keynote speech was given by 80-year-old Marta Cotera, a longtime historian and civil rights activist.

Cotera is a member of La Raza Unida  Party, a Latino political organization that formed in 1970 in Texas.

Highland Park students also treated their peers to a powerful reading of a poem by Mexican-American boxer, poet and political activist Rodolfo Gonzales, who died at age 76 in 2005. Student poems were also read, and a Latin grooves dinner and dance party was held in the cafeteria.

In addition to Warren and Highland Park, students from Wheeling, Waukegan, Stevenson, Evanston, Hersey and Buffalo Grove high schools also participated. The students studied two parts of the four-part PBS documentary film series, Chicano, which recounts the stories of Mexican-Americans' struggles for political, property and other rights.

“The competition is an important aspect of it, but what really feels [powerful] is that the students take this video series and search out more, and want to keep learning on their own,” said Jesse Villanueva, an English as a Second Language and social studies teacher at HPHS. 

Cotera was pleased to be a part of an event that allowed her to meet so many Hispanic students.

"They make me feel that we have a great and positive future with this group of students in our nation," she said. "The education they receive in this school district, it is very intense and nurturing."