Last Wednesday, Greeley West Student Council held an assembly celebrating Spartan culture and students who participate in activities around the school. A big moment from that assembly was when three students performed “Perfecta En Mis Ojos” by Angel Perez. The three students, Leo Soto, Edgar Garcia, and Kevin Ibarra were presented with this opportunity by Ms. Izbeth Pacheco, a social studies teacher. She reached out to them asking if they wanted to show off some stuff they do outside of school, so they took this opportunity to show off their instrumental skills.
Sophomore Soto was one of the three students who performed. Soto was informed about this opportunity at the last minute by his friends but still accepted it. Soto played the bass. Soto has been playing the bass for a year and a half, taking his inspiration from social media like TikTok. Soto enjoyed playing at the assembly, as he believes this can open opportunities for him in the future. “A friend asked me what song they should play and kinda last minute they let me know if I wanted to play with them,” Soto said.
Ibarra, also a sophomore, was another member of the trio who performed. Ibarra found this opportunity cool and fun so they couldn’t miss out on. Ibarra played the guitar. Ibarra took his inspiration from back in middle school when he first started listening to corridos, a genre that is based on string instruments, mainly guitar. Then one of Ibarra’s friends started to teach Ibarra how to play the guitar. Ibarra would indeed be interested in doing another performance if presented. “One of my old friends in middle school he kinda showed me more onto corridos type music where there’s a lot of guitars and he taught me,” Ibarra said.
Sophomore Garcia was presented with this opportunity as a fun way to represent culture, something the assembly celebrated. Garcia agreed to take on this opportunity as one day he wants to be in front of big crowds so being able to do it at an early age will help prepare him for that. Garcia also played the guitar. Garcia started playing guitar at 13; he picked it up as a hobby since he wanted to do something in his free time and he found it to be interesting. Garcia, like Soto and Ibarra, would also be interested in doing another performance if given the chance. “Someday I want to be playing in front of big crowds so that might help get the fright out,” Garcia said.
This might be the first of many performances from the trio, considering they are only sophomores, Greeley West might be in store for greater performances. Their performance could have also opened doors for more groups who wanted to share their culture via music.
