La Mesa Hispana Virtualmente

In the Middle School, students have a range of affinity and ally groups to learn more about themselves and their peers in positive, supportive and inclusive ways.

The La Mesa Hispana ally group has always been a popular choice for 6th–8th grade students who wish to learn more about Hispanic culture by talking about a topic, making crafts, hearing from locals and eating foods related to relevant topics.

In pre-pandemic times, members often made the food elements as part of the group’s gatherings, they ordered from a local restaurant, or Chef Zac made fresh items in Parker’s cafeteria. This year’s COVID protocols required some creative solutions to keep this element of the club alive, and students worked with faculty co-sponsors and Spanish teachers Marcie Frasz, Edinson López and Liz Villagómez in making limonada out of limones!

While discussing the topic of street foods in their first meeting of the year on Zoom, participants had a simultaneous realization—the fact that each was attending from their own homes meant they could actually do real cooking in real kitchens!

Prior to the next gathering, teachers sent out a recipe and list of ingredients via a Google form. Students who signed up could pick up all the required ingredients at school and bring them home to use later that day in their home kitchens.

The idea was a tremendous success, and teacher-curated food items lasted only so long. “As the meetings passed by, students started to indicate that they too wanted to share their own recipes, and then it evolved to student-centered learning,” shared Villagómez. Soon, the students took over, offering a range of foods they enjoy from all over the world that they wanted to cook with their friends after school. While orchestrating the experience, regardless of the cuisine they were preparing, teachers helped create connections with Hispanic culture.

This year’s offerings have included homemade tortillas and quesadillas, piña coladas, guacamole, corn bean salad, mug brownie with homemade ice cream, deviled eggs and even chow mein to the delight of club members.

Seventh grade member Naia Trukenbrod enjoyed learning the backstories behind each of the foods she made this year. In addition to enjoying the process of making tortillas from scratch, she said, “The neatest thing I learned was how to make piña coladas. They were really good, and I wasn’t sure what was in it originally.”

When comparing this year’s Zoom gatherings with their traditional in-school meetings, Frasz shared, “They are completely different because the food is the focus of the meetings now, whereas before it just framed and enhanced the meetings. It has been wonderful to make something together even though we are apart. Zoom meetings can be draining, but cooking together on Zoom has been enjoyable and energizing.”

Villagómez added, “It’s great to have students take the leadership role in teaching others a fun and yummy recipe that represents them and their culture. The neat experience from all this is you get to share part of your culture through what typically brings all of us together—FOOD.  How fun is that?”

Thinking about how this program could further morph based on this year’s experiences, Frasz offered, “Cooking at school in person with so many people is extremely challenging. Our classrooms aren't designed for that. When we go back to traditional Mesa Hispana, we’ll keep our old format. However, we sponsors are definitely interested in continuing our cooking with students after school via Zoom. Perhaps a new club could be added, Mesa en Casa?”

Regardless of what the future may hold, teachers and students are up to the task of engaging in what they are studying and cultivating community in person or on Zoom.

Click here for photos.