Luis A. Torres, Ph.D., for El Semanario
Posted April 23, 2026
What should K-12 students know about the Latina/o or Chicana/o community and culture before they graduate from high school in Colorado? How should they be able to express that knowledge to the educational system, to each other, and to the larger community? Those are driving factors in the Journey Through Our Heritage program, a high school—and to some extent, also a Middle School—academic competition run by the Department of Chicana/o Studies (CHS) at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSUD) for the last nearly thirty years. The recent competition was held on April 10th at MSUD, with some aspects of the JTOH in transition currently. Those of us with El Semanario would be very interested in learning how readers might answer those questions.
Journey Through Our Heritage, covering Indigenous and Latina/o or Chicana/o histories and cultures, is in one way nearing its 30th anniversary with the CHS Department at MSU Denver. In another way, it is relatively recent, having reinvented itself at least a few times over the years. The Department of Chicana/o Studies (CHS) began creating JTOH starting in 1997, with one year needed to begin working closely with high schools in the Denver metro area to fashion a program that would best suit student needs. CHS at MSUD already had a substantial history, with classes being offered by 1971, some taught by such luminaries as Richard and Virginia Castro. Following the framework for community involvement they had developed, including with Denver Public Schools, generated by the early CHS classes, by 1997 it was clear the Department could work closely with high schools to develop what would become Journey Through Our Heritage.
The first gathering of high school students at Metropolitan State University of Denver (then College) in fall of 1998 revolved around students answering objective questions, paired off against each other with for example North High School in competition against West High School, in teams of four or five students each. A teacher from one of the schools, or a professor from the CHS Department at MSU Denver, would ask a question, and students would each have a buzzer to press to be the first to answer.
While the questions represented such academic areas as Literature, Art, and Social Science about our community, the area of History predominated for the first few years. The organizers, both DPS teachers and MSU Denver CHS professors, would have developed a syllabus for the students of a set of questions for the competition. Sample questions could have been, Where and when was the first attempted Spanish settlement in the present-day U.S.? Such a question would subvert the general assumption that the settlement would have been in New Mexico, or Florida, or perhaps Texas or California. The correct answer is, San Miguel de Gualdape, in Georgia, near Winyah Bay or Sapelo Sound, in 1526, only 13 years after the first Spanish contact in 1513. To center Colorado in the curricula, a question might have been, When did the Federal practice of Redlining, to cause neighborhood segregation, begin and end in Denver? Such practice of discrimination, from 1938—1968, afflicted the Chicana/o community in the Westside and elsewhere, along with the Black community, still haunting us to this day. Another question might have been, Name the Indigenous communities that inhabited present-day Colorado before the arrival of European colonists.
As the JTOH developed, the expectations of the students greatly expanded and magnified, trending toward the recent event, especially under the direction of Dr. Renee Fajardo. The competition was held, as always, at St. Cajetan’s Event Center, aka St. Cajetan’s Church, a recognition of its centrality in the Westside community. Importantly, since its inception, the Journey has included mentors, working via Work/Study as available, students at MSU Denver knowledgeable about Chicana/o history and culture. This year’s event was labeled, “2026 Cultural Expressions: 16th Annual Team Competition.” The theme this year was, “Community Engaged Learning: Building Bridges.” Students were expected to produce learning, or curricula, not just respond to it. They could have chosen to create and present via categories of Videos, Teatros/Dance, Power Point, and/or Spoken Word.
The five high school groups in this year’s final competition presented through a variety of formats. One dealt with the sometimes-agonizing process of assimilation in schools. The Huitzilopochtli Youth Group gave an elaborate, and very well received, Azteca dance, with attendant drumming. The team from Centennial High School created an extremely informative video of the process of crafting the building material Adobe and its use in construction of homes and other structures. The Ricardo Flores Magon Academy in Denver is a Middle School, and they presented a video, remarkable for Middle School students. Thornton High School students likewise developed a video, with each student presenting by Spoken Word.
The team from Centennial High School is representative of a continuing effort by the Journey; they are students at Centennial High School in the San Luis Valley, so they journeyed here throughout the year’s competitions. In the past, JTOH has included schools from as far away as Durango, the San Luis Valley, and Sydney, Nebraska. The Journey has therefore spread the knowledge of Chicana/o Studies far beyond Denver.
This competition culminated the year’s JTOH, with presentations of the awards in each category. We congratulate the following: Video Awards: 1st place, Thornton High School; 2nd, Ricardo Flores Magon Academy; Power Point: 1st Place, Centennial High School; Teatro/Dance: 1st Place, Sheridan High School; 2nd Place, Huitzilopochtly Youth Group; Spoken Word: To be decided, between Thornton High School and Centennial High School. Those of at El Semanario and others involved with JTOH hope for continued expansion of the program, one day perhaps serving statewide, a true journey through our heritages.
Luis Torres, PhD, retired, served as Deputy Provost for Metropolitan State University of Denver for Academic and Student Affairs and professor of Chicana/o Studies. Torres is a noted advocate for equity in education, policy and community efforts. Torres is also a member of The Weekly Issue/El Semanario Advisory Board.
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