You Can Now Earn A Mariachi Degree At This San Diego College

The country's first mariachi music degree program is currently being offered at a San Diego college.

The program dedicated to the genre of Mexican music is available to students at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.

"There's something so beautiful about playing it,” Leonardo Lara who will graduate next year with his associate degree in mariachi music told CBS8. "Every time I play, I just feel overwhelmed with joy being able to play it and also being able to play it for people.”

One of the professors, Jeff Nevin, has played for people on stages across the world.

"I've taken mariachi to Russia and we've performed songs from the 1950s and the audience sings along with us," he told CBS8.

Nevin created the degree program around 20 years ago and acts as the director of mariachi activities at Southwestern.

"It puts us on the map here in Chula Vista,” Nevin said. “People know that this is one of the centers of mariachi music education across the country. There are probably half a dozen and we're one of them and down in Mexico there may be another four or five.” 

Some students at the college have received money from the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation where Nevin is also president.