Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tiger Heritage
MARAVER INTERCONTINENTAL SECOND GENERATION STUDENT
PRAIRIE GROVE — Maria Maraver is exploring a unique experience reliving her mother’s legacy as a Prairie Grove senior.
Maraver’s mother, Dana Sue Knowles, is a Prairie Grove native growing up and graduating from PGHS in the 1980s before moving to Chicago to attend college where she met and fell in love with her neighbor, a dashing Spaniard, Jose, Maraver’s father, who was there to get his master’s degree.
After finishing college, the couple moved to Spain where they were wed and have been married 22 years.
Maraver was raised in a dual- language household. Jose can speak, read and write in both Spanish and English and Dana has learned to speak, read and write Spanish in addition to her native English.
“They are like [a] strong personality, they can do whatever they want to,” Maraver said. “My mom tries to speak English with us and my dad speaks Spanish with us.”
“My mom is from here [Prairie Grove], so I want to have the experience,” Maraver said.
Spain has strict driving tests and because the traffic signal turned while the vehicle Maraver was operating had not yet passed through the intersection she did not pass.
“It’s stressful, in Spain you have to learn with the stick shift. You have to be able to drive a stick shift. Most cars have standard [transmissions],” Maraver said.
Drivers have to be 18 in Spain to receive a license but can obtain a motorcycle license at 16, which Maraver did.
“They put cones in two lines. I have to pass the cones without crossing the lines.”
Maraver has practiced driving with her aunt Sarah McKenzie in a field near Prairie Grove and has been eagerly looking forward to taking another driving test.
“I am going to do the exam. We will see if I pass it,” Maraver said combining a subtle tongue- in- cheek sense of humor with a dash of black and white perspective.
Maraver downplays her sense of humor, admitting she is reluctant to tell jokes in English because of her accent. She is more comfortable speaking Spanish but a wry smile escapes when asked if she has a good sense of humor. “Yes.” Re ga rd l e ss o f the language challenges, the merriment in Maraver’s heart comes across.
“I can’t understand hardly anything she says. Sometimes I make her repeat things but she’s really cool,” said fellow senior Steppan Clark, who was one of Maraver’s teammates on the Prairie Grove tennis team in the fall. “She’s really funny and meshes well with the team. She fits right in and, oh, she’s our best player.”
Maraver established herself as the Tigers’ No. 1 player in girls singles competition. She won the District championship and advanced to the 4A state tournament semifinal before eventually placing fourth.
“We don’t have sports in school in Spain so this is new for me,” Maraver said. “I love to play tennis, all the family plays. I like that it’s different than what I have in Spain, the people are really nice, too.”
Maraver also went out for volleyball and is fond of Lady Tiger head coach Hannah McDonald.
“She’s really nice with me and all the team but hard when she needs to be hard.”
Maraver said temperatures in Spain are generally cooler than Prairie Grove but without the humidity. A typical Spanish dish is a tortilla with potatoes and Spaniards don’t eat Mexican food. Maraver said in conversations with Spanish-speakers from Mexico she thinks they kind of understand one another but some words are different.
Maraver’s parents are seven hours ahead of her in Spain and are often going to bed when she has free time to make calls or she is going to school when they are trying to call her but the family came to Prairie Grove to spend Christmas with her.
Right in line with the spirit of giving, Maraver’s ambition is to become a doctor and work with children.
“I want to become a pediatrician and save children’s lives, I love the kids.”