April 26, 2002
Expedition to Mexico huge success
Rachel Lukens
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Thousands of college students
flock to Mexico for spring break,
but this year fourteen Rose
students actually got four credit hours
for going! GL399 Ancient,
Colonial and Modern Mexico, is
treated like a regular humanities
course, even though it is much
more concentrated than a
typical class.
Latin American Studies Professor
Antonio de la Cova headed
up the third annual weeklong
expedition, that traveled 1,200
miles through the Mexican
states of Yucatan, Campeche, and
Quintana Roo. Arising at
6:30 a.m. daily, the group visited the
cities of Merida, Cancun,
and Izamal, stopping at many
indigenous villages and
at a 19th century henequen plantation.
The participants were Jay
Brotz, Matt Domoradzki, Emily
Holzknecht, Matt Isbell,
Jason LaBella, Maggie Lowry, Valerie
Sharp, Matt Pavey, Sara
Podolsky, Lex Seneff, Casey
Stephenson, Richard Thacker,
Travis Troyer and Brent Weigel.
They paid for their own air
fare, four-star hotels, breakfast and
dinner, totaling $676. The
Spanish Club, with Student
Government Association funding,
covered the van rentals, gas,
tolls, site admissions and
lunches. The excursion gave students a
chance to practice their
Spanish-language skills and see how
people from other cultures
live and interact. These unique
learning experiences were
daily annotated in individual journals
as part of the course.
The group also went to the
Merida History and Anthropology
Museum and the Maya archaeological
sites at Chichen-Itza,
Coba, Edzna, Ek-Balam, Itzamatul,
Kinich-Kakmo, Oxkintoc,
Ake, Tahcok, Tulum, Uxmal,
and Xtampak. They met up with
vacationing Pete and Donna
Gustafson, the vice president for
student affairs and the
associate dean for student services, who
rode with them to Tulum
and Coba, and contributed to
transportation expenses.
The class will soon be giving
a presentation on their experiences
to the Rose community.