Most high school students can only dream about recording an album in a professional setting and receiving a Latin Grammy nomination for it. However, for two Lane underclassmen, this concept isn’t just a dream — it’s their reality.

Zullydiana Gomez, Div. 067, and Marco Villela, Div. 170, are two of the sixteen members of Mariachi Herencia de Mexico, an ensemble founded in March 2016. The group, comprised of Chicago Public Schools students, released their debut album “Nuestra Herencia” in May, and watched it climb to No. 2 on the iTunes Latin charts within one week of release. Recently, the album was nominated for Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album at the upcoming Latin Grammy awards.

Mariachi Herencia de Mexico is a division of the Mariachi Heritage Foundation, a non-profit program created by César Maldonado in 2013 that teaches mariachi music to CPS  students.

The members of Mariachi Herencia de Mexico, all between 11 and 18 years old, met after auditioning for the group in 2016, and have been friends ever since, according to Villela. Each member played a different role in the creation of the album; Villela plays the trumpet, Gomez plays the violin, and they both sing in the group’s chorus.

Gomez said her favorite part about performing is being able to produce music that tells a story and evokes certain emotions from their audience.

“Especially when we play rancheras or boleros, those types of songs hit them right in the heart and bring back memories of their time in Mexico,” Gomez said.

She said that Mariachi Herencia de Mexico was honored to have their debut album produced by Jose Hernández, the founder and director of Mariachi Sol de Mexico.

“He is an amazing producer in the mariachi world,” Gomez said.

Not all sixteen members of the group were chosen to record; Gomez is thankful to have been able to record a duet with Villela, entitled “Un Mar de Vino”.

 She admitted that recording an album was not an easy task.

 “Recording a professional album was very different from what we were used to,” Gomez said. “It could be kind of stressful at times.”

 “We all put in a lot of effort into the album, whether it was singing, or playing an instrument,” Villela said.

Mariachi Herencia de Mexico has only been together since 2016, but the preparations to get to where they are started several years in advance.

“I’ve been interested in music all of my life,” Gomez said. She has been playing the violin for eleven years and is currently a member of Lane’s Sinfonietta orchestra.

“Everything I do after school is related to music,” she said. “It’s my passion.”

On Sept. 20, the nominees for the 2017 Latin Grammy awards were publicly released, confirming that the group’s hard work had definitely paid off.

“When I found out that our album was nominated, I was speechless,” Gomez said. “I was really excited and proud of our group on how far we have gotten. We were able to reach No. 2 on the iTunes Latin charts, now this!”  

“I had to keep my cool here at school and not freak out at hearing the news,” Villela said.

Gomez and Villela have put in a lot of time to get to where they are – but their journey is far from over.  

“The nomination is just the beginning,” Villela said. “We need to work harder than we already have to maintain this great reputation.”

The Latin Grammy awards can be viewed on Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. on Univision.