Middle Schoolers return with a PR Glow
“This will last us all a lifetime, Grey-black blue, Ingrained in the back of our memories.”
— Emma Avina, 8th grade
Seattle Amistad Middle School students recently returned from Puerto Rico, each carrying an imprint of the island in their hearts.
The trip was designed for immersion: not only in Spanish, but also in culture, history, and nature. Here, learning happened by being present in a new place. From the moment of arrival in Old San Juan, Spanish stopped being a subject. It became the language of the streets, menus, murals, and daily conversations.
Students walked the old fort walls by San Felipe del Morro, tried traditional Puerto Rican food, and explored historic plazas. Their travel was smooth, even after a late arrival that led to a very real first-night stop at Wendy’s before the deeper food adventures began. But by the end of the trip, students were proudly naming mofongo and the home-cooked meal of chuletas, rice, and beans as some of their favorite foods.
Across the island, students discovered river canyons and caves at Charco Azul, where light filtered in ways that stopped them mid-sentence. They stood before Taíno petroglyphs, a reminder of centuries-old stories, and many students remembered the cave tour guides as one of the highlights of the experience. In Ponce, they visited plazas and enjoyed ice cream. At the hotel, they even had an unexpected “wedding crasher” moment, watching a celebration unfold from the pool.
In Yauco, students experienced one of the most powerful examples of language immersion. With very little English spoken around them, they had to lean into their Spanish in real time. They saw Yaucromatic — a mural project that turned the town into an open-air gallery — and left their own mark with a painted hopscotch design.
They swayed to salsa rhythms, played volleyball, swam through mangroves, and learned with their bodies, their senses, and the open arms of the welcoming communities they met. The trip also sparked deeper reflections. Students shared that traveling through Puerto Rico reminded them to take care of the earth, to be kind, and to notice the beauty of fresh, local food, nature, and community.
Then came the final full day.
After gliding by boat through tangled mangroves, the group found magic at sunset on the water. Then, beneath a velvet night sky, they slipped into the shimmering bioluminescent bay. Every paddle and splash set the water alight, a living constellation encircling them.
Elias Bass captured the awe: “The moment I saw Ezra enter the water, I knew the place we had entered was absolutely magical.” Emma called it “one of the coolest things” she had ever experienced. Lucia shared that even once she climbed out of the glowing water, she remained spellbound by the bay, the starlit sky, and the rare magic of that moment.
Student reflections brimmed with awe, laughter, and discovery. They wrote and spoke of murals that stirred their imaginations, salsa steps that made their spirits soar, the sweetness of Ponce ice cream, swimming in the bio bay, the mangroves, the cave guides, volleyball, local cities, and the deep joy of learning not from worksheets, but from living, tasting, listening, and being truly present in a place that inspired them.
At Seattle Amistad, bilingual education has always been about more than language. It is about helping students move through the world with curiosity, confidence, and genuine cultural understanding — the kind that comes from being somewhere, not just reading about it.
This trip gave our middle schoolers the chance to practice Spanish in real time, build independence, deepen friendships, and experience what it means to belong in a new place.
That is Academic Excellence. That is Joy. That is Belonging — now etched into their memories, a piece of Puerto Rico glowing inside each of them.
Look for student poetry, reflections, and photos from the Puerto Rico trip in our next newsletter.