This fall, Dr. Casey Citrin presented her essay, “Querencia in the High School Classroom: Grounding Students in Place-Based Knowledge,” at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association conference with a panel of other presenters. She described the advanced, year-long English IV course she taught related to this topic and the many ways her students explored a sense of place (or querencia) and the influence it has on shaping who they are. Over the duration of her course, students consider how their environment shapes their character, how living in exile or emigrating impacts one’s identity, how the natural world inspires creativity and personal growth, and so much more.
Dr. Citrin shared examples of her students’ work over the years, some of which led to recognition beyond the classroom. One student’s work was a creative response to studying Coyote America, an environmental history by Dan Flores. Given the choice to complete a creative piece in response to the text, the student’s artwork won the Student Congressional Medal of Art Award and was exhibited in the Capitol Rotunda in 2021.
