In July, Spanish teacher Kathy Blundon will be visiting Huaycán, Peru, and delivering bilingual books to schoolchildren as part of a mission trip through the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

“West students will create their own children’s stories in a bilingual format, illustrating them in blank books. In July, these books will be presented to the community school and its children as a gift from West High,” Blundon said.

Blundon was inspired to reach out to the community for stories when she realized the connection between her Spanish II class’ storytelling project and her mission group’s gift.

“I really like the idea of giving students an outlet to show off their creativity and giving spirit. As my mission group was planning what to bring the children in Peru, I thought of how generous and caring the West community is and thought that students would be interested in sharing their talents with the children,” Blundon said.

Interested students do not need to be enrolled in Spanish to participate.

“We need illustrators, and that has no foreign language requirement.  Also, we need creative minds to develop the story lines.  Students that are good at Spanish can help with the language aspect of the final product, but there is so much more needed than “just” the Spanish part,” Blundon said.

The first meeting will take place Thursday, April 10 at 2:35 P.M. in Blundon’s classroom (3306).

“I think when the children of Huaycán learn that some students in the U.S. have taken the time to write and illustrate stories specifically for them, it will be especially meaningful,” Blundon said.