NORTHROP– Martin Luther High School in Northrop was awarded a grant to fund Spanish classes for 7th and 8th grade students in area Lutheran Students. The classes will be taught by Señora Veronica Balderas.

Baldaras has worked as a Spanish teacher at the school for five years. A native of Mexico, Baldaras came to the area 12 years ago and prior to teaching, she and her husband, Juan, were working as veterinarians on a farm. This has been her first teaching job and she’s looking forward to adding a few more classes in the coming school year.

“Marge (Thiesse) applied for the grant and she got it,” Baldaras said, referring to the school’s director of development and recruitment.

The project is funded by the “To All Generations” grant from the MN South District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The money will help pay Baldaras’ salary, travel expenses and curriculum supplies.

The goal of the class is to bring a greater understanding of diversity and God’s all-encompassing love for all people.

Baldaras said this as something she’s been wanting to do for awhile as she acknowledged that teaching someone something– especially a language– at a young age will help them learn and retain it.

“I’ve seen more interest in kids at that age to learn. I’m excited to teach those grades,” Baldaras said.

She’ll be teaching Spanish Enrichment, an introductory course as she’s guessing most of the students haven’t been taught much of the language yet, to students at St. Paul’s Lutheran-Fairmont and St. Paul’s Lutheran-Truman.

She will be going to the schools one day a week to teach the class and between the schools, 26 students will be impacted. As it’s a one-year grant, Baldars said the future of the program is unknown, though they hope to continue it after a successful first year.

At Martin Luther, students are required to take two years of Spanish and one Spanish class is offered as an elective. Baldaras is excited to reach students at an earlier age and said she doesn’t think some people understand how important it is to learn or know another language.

“Right now, after living in Fairmont for 10 years, I have seen how much the Hispanic population has grown. It’s amazing. We need people who know how to speak Spanish,” Baldaras said.

She said when she started teaching, she had a student who questioned why they needed to learn the language and said they would never use Spanish.

“She called me a few years ago and said. ‘Señora, guess what? In college my roommates are from Puerto Rico and they all speak Spanish,’ She said she was learning even more Spanish and she was happy,” Baldaras said.

As a teacher, Baldars said that was wonderful to hear. She has also had students tell other stories of how their Spanish has come in handy while communicating with people in the community. She hopes that more students, and families, can see the importance of knowing another language.

“It can open more doors,” Baldaras said.