Jan. 11, 2026
By Nicolle Alvarez
Editor
Sixteen students from Señora Rojas’ Advanced Placement Spanish Language and Culture class and the World Language Honor Society officers visited Bergenline Ave. in Union City on Dec. 5 to participate in a scavenger hunt.
The field trip began at La Churreria, a Cuban restaurant where students ate breakfast, which included bacon, ham and cheese sandwiches, eggs, potatoes and coffee, a fruit smoothie or hot chocolate.
The students’ journey led them through various small, Hispanic-owned businesses between 33rd-47th Streets. Among their stops were El Waterloo, a clothing store where they searched for a traditional Cuban shirt known as a guayabera, and Botanica La Milagrosa, a spiritual shop where they learned about its offerings.
Finally, the group returned to La Churreria for lunch, where students ate meals varying from sandwiches to plates with beans, fried plantains, rice and steak in addition to having empanadas and churros.
“I liked going there and seeing the places I used to walk around with my grandmother.”
Rojas said the field trip allowed students to practice speaking Spanish.
“They get to use the target language that they are learning in class, and they get a good glimpse of everything that we’ve learned,” Rojas said. “The different fruits, the different practices, the different traditions — they get to see it live from that perspective.”
Rojas said she plans to return to Union City with her students next school year.
“I like going back to Union City because it always gives me what I’m looking for and provides the students with a great opportunity… to enrich their understanding of the Spanish language,” Rojas said.
Secretary of the World Language Honor Society senior Chloe Sanchez said she felt nostalgic during the field trip.
“I liked going there and seeing the places I used to walk around with my grandmother,” Sanchez said. “I felt like I was connecting back to my childhood.”
Sanchez said she also appreciated the educational aspect of the field trip.
“The students there were required to actually speak Spanish,” Sanchez said. “They engaged what they were learning in class a lot more than I feel students on other field trips do.”
Senior Noah Melendez, who is in Rojas’ AP Spanish Language and Culture class, said the field trip taught him more about the Colombian, Cuban and Dominican cultures in Union City.
“The people who live around there… have their own markets as we have here [in Lyndhurst], but it’s a much more tight-knit community, with mostly Hispanic people,” Melendez said.
He said he reconnected with his inner child after visiting Union City.
“I grew up on Bergenline [Ave.], and it was cool to go visit home, basically, and see a lot of the stores that I used to go to when I was a kid,” Melendez said. “It was definitely an eye-opening experience, and there are way more stores on Bergenline that I have yet to go to.”
