Nine Andersen Students Explore Themes of Strength and Independence in Mexico with Project Success

Project Success has a longstanding and special relationship with Minneapolis sister city Cuernavaca, the state of Morelos and the surrounding areas of Mexico. We’ve toured our student-created musical And So I Did to local schools, brought students to participate in the CIMMA environmental conference, participated in professional development with our facilitation team and more. This spring, nine more Project Success students had the opportunity to experience Mexico first hand during a six-day trip focused on identity, history and culture.

All of the students attending were 8th grade girls from Andersen United Community School. “It was actually by happenstance that all of the students on this trip were female,” said Director of Programs Laura Garcia. “Once we realized that was going to be the makeup of the trip, it became an integral part of the curriculum themes.”

In Project Success programming, our staff set out to meet students where they are, and apply our innovative curriculum to help them plan for their futures. What was intended to be a history and culture expedition evolved into a trip that incorporated a focus on the women who have shaped life in Mexico in the past, present, and future.

“Every part of our curriculum was applied from a standpoint of looking at history and translating that into how it could impact the students today,” said Andersen facilitator Sam Krogstad. “For example, one workshop featured a variety of Mexican women who had different professions throughout history, and students matched their names to professions and descriptions of their lives. It gave us a jumping-off point for conversations about identity.”

One historical figure whose life received a particular focus on the trip was Frida Kahlo. The students’ first day in Mexico city included a guided tour of her home. The tour, and the themes of the trip, clearly resonated with the girls. At the end of the trip, student Ruby reflected: “One of the things I loved about this trip learning all about strong Mexican women.” Another student, Britany, said: “If I come to a barrier between me and my goal, I know to not give up. I will try and overcome that barrier because I am strong and independent, just like Frida Kahlo.” For another, seeing a mother goddess statue at the Anthropology Museum was the most impactful experience; she spent the rest of the trip researching the symbol.

“Identity became a huge part of the emphasis of the trip,” said Laura. “Elia Bruggeman, a global education expert who is a longtime champion of Project Success, has helped to initiate and grow the connection between Project Success and Cuernavaca over the last few years. She had a great idea to create a pen-pal connection between our students and a group of girls at a school in Mexico, which we haven’t done before.”

As a result, our students began immersing themselves in Mexican life and culture weeks before they left the United States. Prior to the trip, they started corresponding with their pen-pals, building relationships with students they would eventually have the opportunity to meet in person.

“They embraced that,” said Laura. “Both the students from Minnesota and the students from Mexico said how honored they were to meet, to share their culture with each other. They shared things they loved and were proud of.”

In addition to writing to one another, Project Success staff also encouraged students to write on their own; each brought a journal and answered prompts to develop critical thinking skills: “What was something new you tried? What was something that challenged you?”

“Even for the students who had been to Mexico before, all of them were saying they tried so many new things,” said Anne Skold, Lead Program Coordinator on the trip. For some, that ‘new thing’ was as simple as meeting a new person from their school or leaving their phone behind, or as momentous as flying on a plane to a different country, or speaking a different language. As Britany said, “Every single day of this trip, I learned something new. I saw and did things I never thought I would.”

In addition to meeting their pen-pals, the girls visited four different schools in Mexico. “Every location, the girls did a great job interacting with students, finding commonalities in playing soccer or listening to music. It was amazing to see these connections being made, and it happening so organically,” said Anne.

“There is a seed that starts to grow for students when you put them in a new situation,” said Laura. “They might go into that situation trying to fulfill some objective, and for this trip, part of that objective was just for them to meet people of different backgrounds. They toured Mexico together, made new friends together, ate together, danced together and formed bonds that will be in their hearts and minds forever.”