Spanglish Club
Spanglish teaches appreciation of diversity
By Katherine Lacaze
For the Seaside Signal
At Seaside High School, the
Spanglish Club helps bridge
the gap between American and
Hispanic cultures by empha-
sizing positive aspects of both
and, especially, the value of be-
ing bilingual and multicultural.
Dorota
Haber-Lehigh,
whose focus is English Lan-
guage Learners, started the
Spanglish Club about eight
years ago with instructional
assistant and co-adviser Leticia
Campos as a way for students
to experience and learn to ap-
preciate cultural diversity.
“My main idea is creating
opportunities for students to
see different worldviews or
different perspectives on life,”
Haber-Lehigh said. “There’s
no one way to see the world.”
The club is heavily centered
on ¿eld trips and activities,
with meetings taking place
sporadically. While the group
is open to all students, most of
the participants are Hispanic
and speak English as a second
language.
Annual events,
activities
An important tradition for
the Spanglish Club is a trip to the
annual César E. Chávez Leader-
ship Conference at Western Or-
egon University in Monmouth.
This year, six students attended
the conference in early March.
During the conference, the
students attended workshops,
listened to speakers, viewed ex-
hibits and learned about current
civil rights issues. After attend-
ing the conference, the students
gave a presentation about what
DOROTA HABER-LEHIGH/SUBMITTED PHOTO
Students from Seaside High School’s Spanglish Club spent
several hours last fall volunteering at Green Angel Gardens
in Long Beach, Washington, to explore the concept of com-
munity service.
they learned during an assembly
at Seaside High.
Additionally, Haber-Le-
high said she ¿nds it import-
ant for current high school
students to interact with their
peers who have advanced to
college. Once per year, the
Spanglish Club members
meet with the Latino Club at
Clatsop Community College.
The high school and college
students spend a day together,
sharing their personal stories
and experiences, touring the
college campus, eating lunch
and doing other activities. The
most recent trip was scheduled
for April 12.
Some of the high school
students may be the ¿rst per-
son in their families to go to
college – or even graduate high
school, Haber-Lehigh said.
“For them to see one of
their peers at Clatsop, it’s a
huge inspiration or push,” she
said.
In addition to celebrat-
ing the Hispanic culture,
Haber-Lehigh also wants her
students to become comfort-
able with aspects of the Amer-
ican culture that may not be
normal in their native coun-
tries. For instance, volunteer-
ism is an honored pastime in
America and a part of the cur-
riculum for Seaside students,
whereas in other countries it
might be frowned upon be-
cause it is perceived as taking
away work from other people,
Haber-Lehigh said. In the fall,
she took her Spanglish Club
members to Green Angel Gar-
dens and Sustainable Living
Center in Long Beach, Wash-
ington, to volunteer for a few
hours.
“It’s good to show them in
a structured environment what
volunteering is all about,” she
said.
Bridging the gap
Aside from external ac-
tivities, the group also works
See Club, Page 11B
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Seagull Pride • Spring 2016 • Seaside Signal/Cannon Beach Gazette • 3