Iago Macknik-Conde, a 17-year-old Hispanic-American, is not a kid like the others, even though he is also that way. In addition to taking care of —and fighting, of course— his two younger brothers, playing video games or hanging out with his friends, the young man, who lives in Brooklyn (New York), has just been awarded in the national history contest of the United States (National History Dayin which more than 500,000 students compete each year), for a project entitled Bernardo de Gálvez: The Hispanic hero who changed the course of the American Revolution.
The Malaga-born Gálvez (1746-1786), hero of the Battle of Pensacola (Florida) against English troops, viceroy of New Spain and, posthumously, honorary American citizen (his portrait hangs in the Capitol in Washington for his contribution to the country’s independence) was the character chosen by the young man for the work that won him the Captain Ken Coskey National Naval History Award and, for the second consecutive year, the New York State Gold Medal in the individual interpretation category, thanks to his dramatization of Gálvez. Iago learned about the character thanks to the journalist and filmmaker Guillermo Fesser, author of an educational book about Gálvez, “an American hero who spoke Spanish,” which was published in 2017.
Iago’s interests as an early researcher – to prepare his work he consulted documents from the period in the General Archive of the Indies in Seville – point to the intersection of his two cultures: Spanish, on his mother’s side, and American. His research on Bernardo de Gálvez has not been the first in this field: last year, when he was in 10th grade, he entered the New York competition with a work on the Lincoln Brigade, the American volunteer corps that fought for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War. “When he was in 7th grade, he already did a work on the Lincoln Brigade,” he said. Tribute to Catalonia Orwell’s book, and the professor couldn’t believe that he had actually used the word ‘anarcho-syndicalist’,” says his mother, Susana Martínez-Conde, amused, recalling her son’s early interest in history, “already at seven or eight years old, because of things related to the Second World War.”
Along the same lines, Iago Macknik-Conde already has a clear idea of what his next project could be: “The Texans, or northerners, who 200 years ago gained independence from Mexico, the country that had power over the territory,” in the so-called Texas Revolution. The confluence of his Hispanic culture and his American culture is always present, perhaps due to family tradition: “His maternal great-grandfather fought in the Cuban war against the Americans,” explains Iago’s mother. “And my paternal grandmother tells me that some ancestor of that branch fought on the American side,” says the young man. The history of Spain and that of the United States are for him “the image that a mirror reflects back.”
Iago’s historical calling was finally forged during the pandemic, with a presentation via Zoom. In 8th grade he found out about the existence of the national competition and two years later, he participated in it for the first time. “In his project on the Lincoln Brigade, he stressed that it was the first military force in the United States to fight in a disaggregated manner, that is, without differentiating the combatants by race,” says Susana Martínez-Conde.
But Iago does not live among files, original documents from the 18th century (“the Spanish they use is a bit difficult for me”). Not even in the history books that he brought from home to the interview along with the prize medal so that the photo session at the central headquarters of the Brooklyn Library —where he is a volunteer— would have the props Iago’s promising future will begin in October, when he applies for university admission. Among the dozen options he is considering, there is one important requirement: “It must have a good History Department, I want to study humanities – history is fine for me, but also political science or international relations – and some engineering.” In his precocious academic curriculum, Iago has already completed thirty credits, “which I think can be validated for a course [académico] college.” His first credit, his mother recalls, came when he was in 7th grade, “and it was on ancient and medieval history in the Mediterranean.”
Able to speak with knowledge about the difference, not easy to establish, neither demographically, nor socially or culturally speaking, between being Hispanic and being Latino in the United States —”I identify myself as Latino,” he says—, he has just participated in California in a leadership program for young Latinos, “for 400 young people from all the states of the country, chosen for having grades 5% above the average.” Iago has studied the last year, the 11th grade, from home, after having completed the previous one in a prestigious Manhattan high school: “Having been homeschooler “It has been very beneficial, because it has allowed me to organize myself better and be able to dedicate time to my project on Bernardo de Gálvez. Because I am not a nerd, I don’t like to hit the books and in fact I find it difficult to get started, but when I start I dedicate myself completely,” he says.
Studying this course from home has not isolated him at all, Iago and his mother assure. “We took history classes in museums and I have friends who have also been homeschoolersall between 16 and 18 years old, like a friend who wants to dedicate himself to jewelry design,” says the young man while showing the Instagram profile with his friend’s creations. “Another friend is an Olympic athlete, from the American Olympic team. break dance”, the new discipline that will debut at the Paris Games.
In addition to studying and researching, activities that are not foreign to the environment in which he grew up—his parents are professors of Neuroscience—Iago likes “the the
ater, walking around the city, chatting with friends and traveling… and languages too,” he says, switching from Spanish to English and vice versa. “I want to study Galician,” after his mother’s native Galicia, “and I can get by in Portuguese, or at least in a mix of Portuguese and Spanish.” Although he feels more comfortable in English when it comes to expressing himself, his mastery of Spanish, compared to his two younger brothers, allows him to resort to it “when I have to tell my mother a secret,” he says, amused, as if it were another secret. Between 2nd and 10th grade, he participated in Alce, the extracurricular program for Spanish children abroad (Iago has dual nationality), “a wonderful program.”
Iago Macknik-Conde has already begun his summer holidays, but without abandoning history: on a trip to Spain to see his family, he had planned to take part in the festival of singular interest in Macharaviaya (Málaga), the hometown of Bernardo de Gálvez, on July 4, Independence Day, which also commemorates the anniversary with historical-military performances and parades inspired by the hero of Pensacola. Iago Macknik-Conde will also be there, dressed in period costume, to celebrate the fruitful meeting of his two worlds, his two cultures.
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