For Oxnard High School junior Krystal Coronado, it's a chance to learn about her heritage.

So when she heard about the school's mariachi band, Coronado signed up to play the violin.

"There is just something about the music," said Coronado, 17. "It makes you proud because it's your heritage. In a sense, we are carrying the tradition to the next generation."

For the past 10 years, students like Coronado have learned about the tradition of mariachi music through a program in the Oxnard Union High School District.

Oxnard, Pacifica, Channel Islands and Hueneme high schools all have mariachi bands that perform at campus functions and shows and festivals across the county.

Longtime Oxnard Union Trustee Robert Valles said he first proposed the mariachi program 10 years ago when he saw the growing number of Latino students in the district who needed a creative outlet. Valles said some teachers questioned his proposal at first, thinking it would take too long to teach students to play the key musical instruments of mariachi: the guitarrón, vihuela, trumpet and violin.

"A lot of people thought this program wasn't logical, but I always believed you can connect students to the school through music," Valles said. "Mariachi was something the kids could relate to."

Only a few years after the program began, more than 200 students had signed up districtwide, Valles said.

Although a majority are Latino, Oxnard High mariachi band director Bruce Edmiston said students of other ethnic backgrounds have joined as well. There are 22 students in Oxnard High's band.

Krystal Lopez said the Oxnard High mariachi band motivates her to be more focused and responsible in her studies.

"I look forward to it every day when I get to school and I try to finish all of my homework so I can practice," said Lopez, 16, who plays the violin and guitar. "It's just a lot of fun."

Pacifica High band director Mark Wingland said mariachi's evolving style has sparked the interest of many young students.

"Mariachi has grown from folk music to something that has absorbed all of the popular music trends over the past 50 years," Wingland said. "It's taken on the characteristics of jazz, swing and even popular music and has become even more sophisticated in the process."

At a school where 86 percent of the student population is Latino, Wingland said, Pacifica's mariachi program fosters students' desire to learn about their own culture and history.

"It's a natural fit to teach the music and all broad concepts in a medium to which they already have a natural affinity," said Wingland, who is also the school's department chairman of performing arts.

Every spring, Pacifica High hosts a mariachi festival where all the Oxnard Union mariachi bands and other local groups perform for the public.

Over the years, however, the number of students involved in the program has tapered off, to about 150 now, Valles said.

"My hope is we can somehow expand the program and maybe bring it to even younger kids," Valles said.