Riverside High School student’s essay in Spanish to President Donald Trump earns her trip to Peru

A Riverside High School junior, Natasha Chrisp, is one of 24 students nationwide to win a travel scholarship to Peru this summer.

“I just love Spanish and I do a lot of outside work to learn it,” she said.

As part of the application process Chrisp wrote an essay in Spanish, addressed to President Trump.

In the two-page essay she wrote about how she wants schools to teach more about other countries and cultures. At Riverside she only started learning “about the outside world” in her junior year, she said.

“There are a lot of things I don’t hear about because we’re from such a small area,” she said.

She also recorded a video of herself speaking in Spanish to her teacher about why she deserved the award and how it would change her life.

Chrisp said she’s especially excited to travel the world and experience new cultures. Chrisp, who lives in Elk, Wash., has never left the United States and has only flown once before.

“I’m from a small area, and I don’t have opportunities to go to new places and meet new people,” she said.

Mary Ressa, Chrisp’s Spanish teacher, said it was an easy decision to nominate Chrisp for the national award.

“Her work ethic matches her IQ,” Ressa said. “She is a very, very bright young lady and works very, very hard.”

Chrisp is the first student from the Riverside School District to win the award, Ressa said. Since she joined her class as a freshman, Ressa said it was clear Chrisp loved the language and had the talent and work effort to match. She also had the desire to interact and learn about different cultures.

Although there are no Spanish speaking families in the Elk-Chattaroy area, Ressa said she emphasizes the increasing importance of learning Spanish.

“We always talk about (in class) if you ever move outside of this community you might use this language, even in Spokane,” Ressa said.

Chrisp’s love of Spanish started at a young age. Her mother, Mylisa Chrisp, owns a karate studio – Creekside Kenpo Karate. Every summer they host a number of Mexican karate students for a month.

Interacting with those students, many of whom don’t speak English, inspired Chrisp.

“I just feel restricted when there are people who are there that I can’t talk to just because of a language barrier,” she said.

The trip is an all-expenses paid trip to Peru – worth $3,500. While there Chrisp will visit the capital city, Lima, and Machu Pucchu and other historical and cultural hotspots. Chrisp leaves for the eight-day trip near the end of July.

To qualify for the award students had to score at or above the 75th percentile on the 2016 National Spanish Examination, be nominated by their school and be selected by the organization. The trip is only available to juniors.

The National Spanish Examination is part of the larger American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

“I just love learning new things and being able to talk to people,” Chrisp said.

She added later, “I’m pretty nervous. I have to fly across the country by myself.”