For East Aurora High School senior Emely Gallegos, the class assignment hit close to home.
Her parents, in a desperate attempt 20 years ago to escape the abject poverty of their Mexican village, hired a “coyote” to smuggle them across Arizona’s deadly southern desert, fully aware they were facing perilous conditions in this attempt to make it to a promised land.
Unlike the 14 young men who perished on “The Devil’s Highway,” the book chosen by her honors “Survival Literature” class as a year-long project, Emely’s parents did not succumb to the blazing heat of that unforgiving stretch of land. Nor did they drown in fast-moving rivers. Or get nabbed by vigilant border agents.
At one point, Gallegos learned, her young mother had wanted to give up, especially when the group hit “a fast moving river and she did not know how to swim.” But her husband picked her up and they pushed through to the safety of the other side, which led to a better life, a beautiful family and eventually U.S. citizenship.
Still, Emely knew little about this compelling part of her history, until she began talking to her parents as she and the class read “The Devil’s Highway,” a national bestseller by Naperville resident and University of Illinois at Chicago professor Luis Alberto Urrea.
Urrea’s book, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, chronicles the attempt of 26 men to cross the Mexican border into the United States in the spring of 2001, which resulted in the deaths of 14. The book received critical acclaim when it was released three years later, with The Atlantic describing it as “the single most compelling, lucid and lyrical contemporary account of the absurdity of U.S. border policy.”
And because that topic, more than ever, has become such a hot button in our national debate, East Aurora High School English teacher Shane Gillespie’s honors class took a vote at the start of the school year and decided this would be the perfect book to focus on for what has become an annual fundraising project.
You may recall, a couple years ago the students raised thousands of dollars for suicide awareness through an overnight walk from Wheaton North High School to downtown Aurora, then brought in Kevin Hines, who survived after jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge, in as a guest speaker. And last year, they took part in an overnight lock-in and invited kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard to speak to them, raising even more thousands for her foundation that helps abducted and sexually abused victims.
This year the class is partnering with Urrea to raise money for El Centro de Informacion of Elgin, a not for profit agency that helps more than 15,000 mostly low-income immigrants each year through services that include bilingual advocacy to immigration services to community education and youth services.
This year’s goal: to raise $14,000 and a healthy dialogue about immigration issues. And as a way of connecting to the harsh journey so many made to get to America, about 150 students and a crew of East High teachers will take part in a 20-plus mile “Walk for Lost Dreams” that will start in downtown Aurora on April 24 and end at El Centro de Informacion. To donate go here.
Much like the overnight trek the “Survivors Lit” class made from Wheaton North High School to RiverEdge Park two years ago, the students look forward to testing their physical limits. But there has also been an emotional component to this project for more than a few students, as the book has led to eye-opening discussions in their homes, uncovering never-before revealed facts about their histories that, for some of their family members, continue to be painful.
Alondra Monjaraz says her father was only 14 when he and his younger brother risked crossing the desert with a group led by “coyotes.” Her dad “never talks about it … the most he’s ever said is how he had to avoid law enforcement while crossing the border and right after crossing,” Alondra said.
“The only people he really talks to about it are his brothers and sisters because they had similar experiences,” she added. “When I ask questions he just shuts down.”
Gerardo Franco says when he too began discussing the book, he learned of his father’s journey, crossing deserts and crawling through sewers in order to avoid detection. It was not until months later, after arriving safely and getting settled, did he arrange for his wife and 11-month-old Gerardo to make that same trek.
As dangerous as it was, Gerardo said, what his parents faced in their homeland — poverty, gangs and corruption — was more perilous.
Edgar Perez’s mother told her son she crossed the desert with her parents as a teenager because the poor farming family “was running out of choices,” he said. Trying to scratch out a living on rented land that was all desert and mountain became impossible, “and there was no place else to go.”
For many of these students, these sort of family discussions that came about because of this class project led to a better understanding and appreciation for the sacrifices their parents made.
“I did not know a lot about the story,” said Stephanie Viayra, whose father was 21 when he and his older brother crossed.
“This book really helped me be able to picture it.”
Zaid Ramirez considers himself “one of the lucky ones,” as he was able to come to this country from Mexico at age 3 “inside an airplane and with a visa.”
But reading “The Devil’s Highway,” he added, “opened my eyes to what was happening; and I appreciate those more who had to go through so many struggles to get here … it gave me empathy.”
The class’s reaction to the book was not unexpected for their teacher. Every year, Gillespie said, the teens seem drawn to the topics they select, and this year was no different.
“It was cool to see them make the connections in class and look around and realize that they were not alone with their stories,” he noted, “not just connecting to the text, but connecting with our classroom community.”?
Likewise, Gillespie was not surprised the parents, in an effort to protect their children from “the trials of their past,” had not opened up about their own experiences until now.
But he could tell that once these students fully comprehended the sacrifices their parents had made, they will “take advantage of every opportunity they are given and have a true appreciation for what they have.”
While it was never Urrea’s intent, the author told me, for The Devil’s Highway” to be part of classroom assignments, more schools over the last few years are picking it up, which has been “gratifying to know kids all over the country are learning about people often misrepresented.”
And it’s “validation” of his desire to bring Americans closer together through his work.
“For these kids specifically, in this time of harsh rhetoric and hard realities, it means everything,” Urrea said. “As we see with high school kids in Florida, this generation is going to take action to right the world. They are not going to wait for us to do the right thing any longer.”
