The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese have announced that Taylor Hendrickson of Wellington, a communication arts student at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts, has been awarded a Bertie Green Travel Award.
Each year, the association selects 24 high school juniors as national winners. The students travel to a country or region of the Spanish-speaking world for a period of 8 to 14 days. This year, Spain is the travel destination.
Since only one student per chapter was able to apply, Señora Barbara Smith asked all her juniors in the Dreyfoos Spanish Honors Society to submit a short essay in Spanish on why they wanted to visit Spain.
After being chosen to represent Dreyfoos, Hendrickson went on to the national competition. The application consisted of an essay in Spanish, in which she could choose between two topics, to either investigate an aspect of Spanish culture and tell why she would explore that if she could visit the country, or identify one Spanish personality (living or dead) she would like to visit and what she would like to discuss and why.
Hendrickson chose to write about the poet Frederico Garcia Lorca. She also had to record a five-minute video of Smith interviewing her speaking only in Spanish.
“I am so lucky to have the opportunity to travel to Spain with students who are just as fascinated with the Spanish language as I am,” Hendrickson said. “My passion for the language has developed with my education, and this trip gives me the opportunity to learn and appreciate it more. Not only will my conversational Spanish improve on this trip, but what I learn and experience in Spain will impact my artwork, writing and studies in the future.”
ABOVE: Taylor Hendrickson with teacher Barbara Smith.
