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Monika Diaz reports.

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DALLAS - Some high school students in Dallas are getting a unique history lesson.

They are breathing new life into a forgotten cemetery.

It's helping them reconnect with the city's Mexican-American roots.

The hidden cemetery in west Dallas, near interstate 30 and Cockrell Hill, is coming back to life.

From clearing overgrown bushes, to cleaning cracked tombstones, to fixing broken fences, students from Bishop Lynch High School want to honor a forgotten piece of history with a makeover.

"It's hard to remember there's a cemetery here and by helping out and cleaning up, that will spread awareness," said student Megan Mendoza.

The Campo Santo Trinity Portland Cemetery holds 200 graves.

It's one of the few reminders of Dallas Mexican American history still standing.

Many of the people buried here were immigrants from Mexico who helped build Dallas in the 1900s and worked at the Trinity Portland cement plant.

For Samantha Gonzalez, it's a history lesson she didn't get in the classroom.

"They couldn't do more to help this place look like a historical marker. I don't know. It's just kind of sad," she said.

Her Spanish teachers are behind the project and the cemetery cleanup will now be part of the curriculum.

"It's almost like they didn't exist, so if we don't take care of it and we don't take the time to come out, it would like they never lived and that would be a mistake," said Maria Sosa-Rodriguez, a teacher.

Henry Martinez grew up in the old neighborhood and has been fighting to preserve the cemetery for years.

He worried that it would all disappear after he's gone.

"I am very proud of those children you know," he said.

A caretaker's legacy now in the hands of future generations.

"His legacy will go on and that the cemetery will be taken care of and that he could be at peace with that," Sosa-Rodriguez said.

A promise to never forget.

E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com.