HP071819

8 | July 18, 2019 | The highland park landmark community
hplandmark.com
Chicano College Bowl allows students to celebrate heritage
Jaz
Submitted by Marcy
Eisenstadt Freeman
Our 11-year-old Bichon-
Poodle, Jaz, was rescued
from Orphans of the
Storm in 2011. We
can’t understand why
anyone would have left
this lovable snuggler to
be a stray. Jaz loves to
curl up on warm laps
and bark at every little
leaf that moves. When
he is particularly happy he runs around the house
jumping on and off the couch in what we call the
Bichon Blitz. In the end, maybe he rescued us.
To see your pet featured as Pet of the Week, send a photo
and information to Editor Erin Yarnall at
erin@hplandmark.com.
Erin Yarnall, Editor
Several teams came to
exhibit their skills and
compete in the gymnasium
of Highland Park
High School, but it wasn’t
anything to do with athleticism.
It was everything to
do with history and culture.
The Chicano College
Bowl, held April 27, was
the 21st annual event of its
sort — bringing together
teams from the Chicagoland
area to compete in a
scholastic bowl focused on
Latino history.
The annual event is sponsored
by the Highland Park
High School Hispanos Unidos
Club, and has always
been held at Highland Park
High School.
Teams are tasked with
watching films from the
2013 PBS series “Latino
Americans” — a documentary
series that chronicles
the history and experience
of Latino Americans
over a span of centuries.
Each year features a
different keynote speaker
at the event, and the chosen
speaker this year was
Sylvia Mendez, one of the
children of Gonzalo and
Felicitas Mendez. In 1947,
her parents fought a court
case, Mendez v. Westminster,
which fought for
the integration of schools
seven years before Brown
v. Board of Education led
to the desegregation of
schools in the country.
Sylvia Mendez has gone
on to educate communities
about the struggles
her parents went through
in an attempt to provide
educational opportunities
to their children. Mendez
has received a Presidential
Medal of Freedom, and
travels the country sharing
her story.
“It’s nice because it’s a
reminder that it’s one of
the cases that was used as
Winners of the
Chicano College Bowl
Varsity
1st Place - Warren
Township High School
2nd Place - Highland
Park High School
Junior Varsity
1st Place - Warren
Township High School
2nd Place - Buffalo
Grove High School
a precedent for Brown v.
Board of Education, six
years later,” Highland Park
High School teacher Jesse
Villanueva said.
Villanueva organizes the
event, along with school
counselor Charo Mendoza.
The event also features
a dance at the culmination
of the scholastic bowl, in
which participants from
all of the schools could interact
and get to know one
another.
Mendoza and Villanueva
agree that the event
is important because Latino
and Chicano history
is infrequently taught in
schools.
They feel it’s important
to encourage students to
continue learning outside
of the classroom so these
stories will continue to
live.
“When they go into a
classroom and hear the
history, they can question
it more. And not just question
it, they can be mindful
or bring it up to the attention
to the teacher that
there’s some history that’s
missing within the things
that they’re being shown
or taught,” Mendoza said.
“They can recognize that
they will have to seek information
outside of the
classroom, because they
recognize that some of the
history is either forgotten
or erased, whether it’s purposefully
or not.”
The HPHS Chicano College Bowl team cheers on their
teammates as they answer questions correctly at the
Chicano Bowl at Highland Park High School. Photos by
Nicole Carrow/22nd Century Media
The HPHS Chicano College Bowl team poses with the
day’s keynote speaker, Sylvia Mendez.
HPHS’s team — Liz Hernandez (left to right), Pablo
Gilbert, Quetzali Gomez, and Itxel Limon — competes
on stage during the varsity tournament.
Liz Hernandez (left to right), Itxal Limon, Pablo Gilbert,
and Quetzali Gomez celebrate a successful run during
the competition.