This past week, the Advanced Learning Academy (ALA) took its current Sophomores and traveled to Puebla, Mexico. The fourth-largest in the country, Puebla is a city in east-central Mexico, southeast of Mexico City, known for its culinary history, colonial architecture and pottery.
From Sunday through Friday, ALA spent their week learning about Puebla’s deep history and culture. Organized in part with Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), ALA students were also given the opportunity to experience college-grade classes during each morning of the trip. From Data Analytics to Advanced Marketing, ALA sophomores worked with university professors to apply these concepts in real-world scenarios.
The students arrived Sunday evening, but their activities didn’t start until Monday, where they first visited the Basilica Cathedral of Puebla. Known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the cathedral is known according to its Marian invocation. It is one of the most important buildings in the historic center of Puebla declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. After their tour, the students were given time to visit downtown Puebla and interact with the local shops and vendors.
On Tuesday, ALA sophomores visited the International Museum of the Baroque, which opened in Puebla in 2016, a love letter to the period. Although the Baroque period exploded in popularity throughout Europe during its course, ALA students were quick to find influences and patterns in Baroque art that played an homage in the Mexican art and architecture they were already seeing in the city.
Wednesday saw ALA visiting Cholula, a metro district located within Puebla. The students spent the day hiking the Great Pyramid of Cholula to reach the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Our Lady of Remedies Church). What surprised the students wasn’t just the beautiful and detailed church located on top of the pyramid; it was that the Great Pyramid was technically the largest pyramid by volume in the world.
On the final full day of the trip, ALA visited the Cinco de Mayo battlefield, as it was in Puebla when the Mexican army defeated the French for its independence. The students visited forts Loreto and Guadalupe, which had now been converted into museums to signify the importance of the Mexican victory almost two hundred years ago. After a long day of walking and learning, ALA finished their trip with a dinner downtown, provided in courtesy by UDLAP.
ALA’s trip to Puebla not only provided its students a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it also immersed the school in Puebla itself. From the busy vendors downtown to the calm, serene moments in Cholula, Puebla showed ALA that there is so much more to the city than traditional tourist destinations and stops, all of which is possible thanks to CAST and its industry partners. Thank you to UDLAP and the CAST Network for making this trip possible!
Source used: Wiki
