Many American teens might perceive a 10-day trip to Mexico as a chance to party. Not Joseph Glass. For him, it's an opportunity to hone his already considerable foreign language skills

The 17-year-old rising senior at Augusta Preparatory Day School already is fluent in French and German. Though he has studied Spanish for three years, and learned it so well he qualified for the free trip south of the border, Glass doesn't consider himself a master of the language.

"I'm not fluent in Spanish, because I've had less time to practice it," he said. "I'm hoping this trip will help with that."

Glass was one of eight students selected for the trip by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese after scoring in the 99th percentile on the 2009 National Spanish Exam.

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