Upper level Spanish students recently completed a unit about immigration and the reality of people detained at the US/Mexico border. Students practiced their Spanish — including vocabulary that helped them develop skills in empathy — to write encouraging letters of hope and prayers to children on the border.

“I thought this was a good way for them to learn some new vocabulary and learn more about an important issue,” said Varleria Eshleman-Robles, Spanish teacher. “It’s a way to personalize something we hear in the news that seems so big and impossible to connect with individually.”

Ms. E-R, as she is affectionately known, has endeared herself to the EMS community in her first year with her creative and energetic teaching. Originally from Guatemala, she is married to Ryan Eshleman-Robles, class of 2009 and boys varsity soccer coach.

Listen to Ms. Eshelman-Robles share about her passion for dance in a recent chapel on our chapel YouTube channel.