It was dangerous for Ana Martinez to walk to school. Her parents told her not to talk to anyone or she could be jailed or killed for what she said. Even whispering was dangerous. Ana lived under Communism in Cuba and speaking against the government was forbidden. Soldiers carrying machine guns roamed the streets. Ana remembers their shoes going clack clack as they marched along the concrete sidewalks and she could hear the rumble of tanks in the distance. Gunshots would ring out, and Ana, who was only six, was terrified.
Ana, who immigrated to the U.S. (first Miami, then New York) from Cuba in 1963, is the mother of Nico Martinez, a Fenn seventh grader. He chose to tell her story for his Cultural Heritage Project this spring. Standing in front of his display board in the gym, Nico told visitors about life in Cuba under Fidel Castro, when Castro staged a revolution against Batista. He spoke about the horrors of living under Communism, the people who were killed for speaking up against the government, and the Cubans who were driven out of their country, including his mom and her family. Ana, he said, remembers food shortages and having a Communist kindergarten teacher around whom she needed to be very careful. She remembers how stressful and frightening life was for her family.
Ana was one of the lucky ones; her family believed in education and wanted Ana and her sister to go to college, which they did. Ana M. Martínez Alemán is now a professor of higher education at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education.
At Fenn, the Cultural Heritage Project is a highlight of the seventh grade year. Students are asked to select a relative or ancestor to profile. They conduct research on these individuals, who may have worked hard at their trades to overcome challenges, served their countries with courage and distinction, published books, invented products, run businesses, or immigrated to America for a better life, among a wide range of achievements and life experiences. Among their resources are the New England Genealogical Society and www.Ancestry.com. Each boy writes a paper, creates a display, and prepares a presentation for the exhibit.
The boys do much of their work during their Integrated Studies classes, and their teachers say the project helps them practice important organizational skills, such as managing a calendar and chipping away at a complex task, and leads them to discover sometimes surprising facts about their subjects.
Other individuals profiled this year include an artist, athlete, designer, military veterans, an inventor, and a 17th century gem merchant. An exhibit of the projects was held Thursday night, May 5, for family members; the following morning Fenn grandparents and “grandfriends” attended classes and an assembly for the School's annual Grandparents' Day.