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City of London Student wins trip of a lifetime in the Ruta Quetzal

On Friday 14 December 2007 GCSE Spanish students from across the country met at the Instituto Español Cañada Blanch in London to compete to become the UK representative in the Ruta Quetzal BBVA and to win the trip of a lifetime around Panama and Spain.

In the morning 32 students took a written test in Spanish. After a tapas lunch, the top ten students took part in a series of spoken tests in front of a judging panel made up of representatives of CILT, the Association for Languages Learning (ALL), the Spanish Embassy and the British Council.

Tasks included describing a mystery photo and answering questions in Spanish. In one round, students performed a variety of prepared talent acts including singing, reciting poems and telling jokes in Spanish. Judges were looking for a good command of the language as well as self-confidence, humour and the ability to adapt to unusual situations.

Jessica Sandelson from the City of London School for Girls was unanimously awarded first place by the judges. In second place was Elliot Bannister from Northampton School for Boys, who won a four-day trip to Castilla La Mancha. In third place was Sonia Ribeiro from Notre Dame RC School in London, who won a five day trip to Castilla y León. Both prizes were donated by the respective councils of the two Spanish autonomous regions.

All ten finalists were awarded boots and rucksacks from travel shop Panama Jack, solar-powered mobile phone chargers courtesy of Expo Zaragoza 2008, and Christmas hampers from "Iberica Food and Culture" in London.

The Ruta Quetzal BBVA is a Spanish cultural program for sixteen and seventeen-year-old students. Founded in 1979 on the suggestion of King Juan Carlos of Spain, the program was designed to raise awareness of Ibero-American cultural heritage.

Now sponsored by Spanish bank BBVA, the Ruta Quetzal takes around 100 students each year to visit the cultural and historical sites of a different country in South or Central America. The UK strand of the competition was organised by the Consejería, the education department of the Spanish Embassy.

Jessica will be joined on the six-week trip by representatives of each region of Spain, each country in South and Central America and various countries throughout Europe and North America. The group will explore Panama, including the famous Panama Canal, before returning to Spain, where they will travel through Castilla La Mancha, Aragón, Castilla y León and Madrid, visiting sites of cultural interest and meeting famous Spanish authors and other celebrities including King Juan Carlos.

Isabel Mateos of the Consejería said: ‘We all had a wonderful day and were very proud to host a competition for such talented young people.’