Juan Tafolla earned enthusiastic applause from the Kennett Consolidated School District Board at its May meeting, as he reported on his return from a six-month excursion to Mexico.

He took the trip on behalf of the Kennett Square Borough Council to explore relations between the borough and his family’s province of origin, the State of Mexico, and, more specifically, the capital city of Toluca.

Tafolla, 18, is now a 2024 graduate of Kennett High School. His parents are from Mexico, and he has a strong passion and caring for the large Hispanic population, both in Kennett schools as well as the wider Kennett region.

He noted in his report to the school board that there are 200,000 folks with a Mexican background in Pennsylvania, and 800 from its capital city of Toluca in Kennett Square alone.

An honor student at Kennett, he has served and continues to serve as the junior member of the borough council. In the course of this experience, he decided he could do some good by visiting his cousins in Toluca for an extended visit to try to work out some benefits between that city and Kennett Square.

At first, his announcement about the visit came as something of a surprise to his parents.

“When I told my mother my plans, she almost had a heart attack,” he said.

Nonetheless, with the blessings of the council, his parents (later) and his mentor -- former Kennett Square mayor and political activist Leon Spencer -- he persisted in following through with his plans.

He said he threw together some money he had saved, along with financial support from Basciani Foods and the Spencers, and he left for Mexico in October of 2023.

He also made arrangements at school to continue daily his education online.

Toluca, as the seat of government of that province, is much more urbanized than Juan’s hometown of Kennett Square.

He did not elaborate on how he made his way to connecting with the governmental officials of the state, but he succeeded in arranging to meet with Erika Hernandez, who is the head of the Department of International Relations of Toluca, and with Pancho Carmona, a council member of Toluca.

Juan said he wanted to pursue three concepts: To enhance mutual support between Toluca and Kennett Square – an “economic exchange”; to give to Toluca citizens the power to sign documents from afar after they had come to United States; and to ensure protection of local Mexicans from crime and theft when they send money or travel in Mexico.

Additionally, he said they later explored the idea of developing some kind of “sister city” agreement between Toluca and Kennett Square, especially in the sharing of art and culture.

With his return to Kennett Square, Juan reported some success, especially with the “sister city” agreement. It involved creating a Mexican plaza in Kennett Square.

“It would be a place where the community could gather and where food can be sold, like many products from Toluca and across Mexico. This would bring tourism to the borough and allow Mexican-owned business to thrive in our borough,” he said.

Looking back on his adventure, he said he missed Kennett Square while he was away. Through it all, however, there was no downside to the trip.

Juan is the son of Claudia Tafolla and Huram Romero. He has a brother who is a student in the 10th grade at Kennett High School.

Both parents immigrated independently from Mexico to find a better life, but met in Chester County. Juan was born in nearby Delaware.

Juan will continue his education at St. Joseph University in the fall, where he plans to major in political science and minor in pre-law.