On Feb. 14, students, teachers and volunteers came together to hold a Spanish Market.

Julie Weitzel, Spanish teacher, came up with the idea for the Spanish Market to help give students a way to use their new Spanish speaking abilities by speaking in Spanish to barter for goods.

“The market was made as a way for the students to use the skills they have been learning this year and give them an authentic experience, since we can’t send them to Spain or Mexico,” Weitzel said.

Among the traded goods students could buy were snacks, candy, coffee and roses for the students’ valentines. However, the students had to try to use as little English as possible, and rely on their Spanish skills.

“Spanish isn’t my strongest language, but having us all here speaking it together makes us stronger. It’s a really great environment,” Jared Hinton, sophomore, said.

Students who participated had to purchase chips for the marketplace using actual dollars, which are going to be used by the world languages department. Students can then spend these chips on goods, which are being sold by volunteers.

“Spanish 4 and Spanish 5 students have volunteered to help run the stands, and a lot of world language teachers collaborated to help me with the planning,” Weitzel said.

Weitzel does not know what the world languages department is going to do with the money raised, but does hope that they will be able to run the market again in the future.

“This is just our first attempt, so we are trying to see how the students do. This can be a scary environment, working with people you don’t know, using a language you aren’t completely comfortable with, but they are doing really well. If there is a big demand for it, we could try it again,” Weitzel said.

Editor’s Note: The “Mercado” produced a profit for Weitzel, who plans to donate the earnings to Water for Panama.