Students in Spanish III and Spanish III Honors attended a mandatory lecture given by Paola Suarez from the Santa Monica Mountains Fund in Ahmanson Lecture Hall on Feb. 11. Spanish teachers of the World Languages Department hosted the opportunity during lunch to expose students to a realistic Spanish-speaking environment and help them learn about the monarch butterfly, which lives in North America.

World Languages Teacher Margot Riemer said she organized the event for the students who had recently learned about nature and wildlife in Spanish.

“We host an event like this every year around this time because this is when students in Spanish learn about the environment,” Riemer said. “The speaker decided to talk about monarch butterflies because they are relevant to both the local and global environments.”

Talya Ebrahemi ’27 said the presentation was an enriching experience that helped her learn about nature through Spanish immersion.

“The slideshow that went along with the speaker’s lecture was interesting and easy to follow,” said Ebrahemi. “I definitely did not know that the butterflies were endangered. I learned a lot from this lecture and it was a good use of my time.”

The lecture concluded with a discussion about the butterflies’ endangerment, primarily due to the loss of crucial resources like the milkweed plant. At the end of the lecture, Suarez said students could help with the endangerment of the butterflies through ways like tracking them and restoring their habitats.

“You can do a lot,” Suarez said. “There are options like helping track monarch butterfly sightings using apps like iNaturalist and Journey North and contributing to the restoration of mountain habitats. Anyone can help.”