Led by  Mr. Alexis Avila, Xavier High School’s Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica (SHH) ambassadors have started a Spanish club at St. Matthew’s Elementary School. Their meetings include teaching a group of around 15 third-graders about Spanish culture, also allowing the kids to develop and strengthen their Spanish-speaking skills.

The members met on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school throughout November in the St. Matthew’s media room. With so many Xavier students involved, they are able to divide the elementary students into small groups to provide individual help, and build more personal relationships. The kids get the chance to do a variety of activities at each meeting to improve their understanding of Spanish. So far, they have learned Spanish greetings, numbers, and foods. The club hopes to increase their vocabulary even further in the future.

Along with being the new club’s leader, Mr. Avila is the SHH moderator and teaches Spanish classes at Xavier. “One of the things I enjoyed was that on the first day, the third-graders gave me the name ‘Captain Spanish’,” Mr. Avila said.

The SHH members have future plans for Spanish clubs at other elementary schools, led by seniors Josie Fuhrman and Jackson Schuster.

“I love doing it because the kids are so energetic,” Schuster said. “They are always really excited to learn Spanish.”

Fuhrman reached out to St. Pius X Elementary in order to start up a Spanish Club for their students. Their first meeting at St. Pius was Monday, November 14, and they plan to meet again for the next 10 weeks.