Headwaters Academy’s

Mexican Market and Fair

written By Tim McWilliams

It is a perfect educational trifecta, involving students in learning, sharing and service: Headwaters Academy’s Mexican Market and Fair.

On the day of the event, visiting Anderson School students quickly walk past tables full of home-made Tarahumara crafts to learn from their peers about a number of Spanish-speaking countries. Each Headwaters Academy (HWA) seventh grader, following a few weeks of intense preparation, has a station with an elaborate tri-fold showcasing a country, accompanied by a dish of “local” food prepared by the student. Anderson students move from station to station, learning about diverse cultures from the colorfully dressed HWA students and enjoy several bites of Latino appetizers. Once they have completed the circuit, Anderson students rush upstairs to experience a visual and culinary feast.

Why a Mexican event? From 2003 until 2008, HWA eighth graders made an annual journey with Susan Schwab, HWA’s Spanish teacher, another teacher and Bozeman’s Jim Barnaby to Norogachi, Mexico, to learn from the indigenous Tarahumara and the Mestizos in the tiny village of the Copper Canyon region. The students experienced a fascinating culture, practiced their Spanish, involved themselves in service projects and shared much. They also connected with the local Tarahumara boarding school and the neighboring Cuechi elementary school students. Barnaby was the perfect resource to serve as the guide and facilitator: since the 1980’s he has spent his summers in Bozeman and his winters in Norogachi.

In 2005, Tarahumara in Huimayvo, a remote canyon village, told Barnaby that it was too dangerous for their youngest children to hike out of the canyon to the school on the rim. They asked if he would help them with funding a local school. Barnaby contacted Susan for assistance and the idea of the Headwaters Academy Mexican Market and Fair was conceived as a learning, sharing and fundraising event. The Huimayvo school was built, is well attended, and today shares sister-school status with Headwaters Academy and the Tarahumara school in Cuechi.

As they rush to the main floor, the Anderson students, along with the HWA students and their families, are surrounded by the ambiance of a Mexican village. Everyone quickly exchanges American money for Mexican script at the Casa de Cambio to purchase the unique Tarahumara crafts provided by Jim Barnaby and the Mexican food made by Headwaters’ eighth graders. Although everything is surprisingly affordable, $1,000 is typically raised for the two schools. The drug-related violence has become more intense and has created a financial crisis; Barnaby now uses much of the money to buy beans and corn for the students’ most needy parents.

Unfortunately, the life-changing student visit to Norogachi had to come to a close with the increasing dangers of travelling in Mexico after the 2008 student trip. Headwaters’ eighth graders now travel to Ecuador for a similar experience. The bond with the Tarahumara was too strong to abandon, however: Sénora Schwab and her students insist on continuing the Mexican Market and Fair tradition into the foreseeable future.