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.