Highschool students in Wyoming create a Mural to connect with Tlaxcala, Mexico

Wyoming | Bright, bold colors adorned 19 panels as students put their finishing touches on a 76-foot-wide mural that will soon grace a tunnel along one of Jackson’s pathways.

“I think it’s cool that Tlaxcala is being recognized this way,” said Jackson Hole High School senior Marco Sosa as he brushed highlights into a panel, depicting rows of colorful homes. “I have family there, and I go and visit them every year.”

Sosa is one of 35 high school students who have contributed to the new mural, as part of a Spanish Through Art class taught by Gabriel Lopez. He and others are also part of a growing community of people from Mexico’s Tlaxcala state who have emigrated to Jackson and the surrounding region, making this piece of art intimate and personal.

About a third of public school children in Teton County are Hispanic, many of them first- or second-generation immigrants from Tlaxcala.

In this upper-level Spanish language class, students develop their Spanish skills by learning about Mexican art and creating a work of art at the end of every thematic unit. This fall, students had the opportunity to collaborate on a giant mural for Jackson Hole Community Pathways and JH Public Art. The piece represents Jackson’s sister city Tlaxcala, located east of Mexico City at approximately 7,000 feet above sea level.