Native Spanish Speakers Only: A Queens High School’s Unusual Requirement
BY SOMMER SAADI
Students at Pan American, the factory-building-turned-school located in the Hispanic-dominated neighborhood of Elmhurst, Queens, must be native Spanish speakers who have lived in the U.S. for less than four years. This year, the school’s third, Pan American is welcoming 275 students, mostly from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Colombia, to grades nine through 11.
