Alive On Campus Keeping Culture

Students fight for inclusivity and cultural representation on campus through Hispanic Heritage Month.

by Zoey Rainey, People Editor

PRHS has a student body that is 51% Hispanic/Latino. To try and cater to this, the school has created different ELD programs and recently added the ethnic studies class to teach about Hispanic history. But many students feel the school is not trying enough to educate other students on Hispanic culture and celebrate Hispanic heritage month to embrace the ever-growing diversity on the PRHS campus,

“I think we need to learn more about the diversity of history because I know that a lot of students, like me, don’t know much about Hispanic Heritage Month, and they’d really like to know, I would like to know,” junior Adriana Aguilar, president of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MECHCA) said.

Hispanic heritage month takes place in the US from Sep. 15 through Oct. 15, 30 days of celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The Activist Coalition of Tomorrow Club (ACT) has been especially focused on celebrating this month by creating Instagram posts of influential Hispanic people in history. They also planned an event in the quad, on Friday Oct. 8, educating students on different Hispanic cultures while playing games, listening to latin music, and eating popular latin snacks. Towards the end of the month, they also did a chalk art event to celebrate Hispanic culture.

The president of the ACT club, senior Melissa Gonzalez, shares why she felt it was important to celebrate Hispanic heritage month at the school, “I personally love being Hispanic I love being part of this culture. I think it’s just really awesome and I feel like people don’t understand that being Mexican isn’t just being brown and speaking Spanish, there are so many dialects spoken in Mexico, and many different skin tones. This whole month is like a door opening because we’ve never really celebrated it before, it’s just to know how rich this culture is and we should celebrate that,” Gonzalez said.

Ethnic studies teacher and ACT club advisor Geoffrey Land gave his insights on how the school lacks representation of the Hispanic student body, “I think the school could do a lot better at hiring people who have lived experiences like their students, maybe go to the same churches or listen to the same music, or having had the same upbringing,” Land said.

Many students have found that embracing and celebrating their culture is very important to them and this heritage month is a way for them to truly embrace where they’re from. Senior Zaira Gomez shared what she’s most proud of about her culture,“The most important thing in my culture, I would say, is that I’m from Oaxaca, it is known as one of the poorest states in Mexico, but it is one of the richest in culture and diversity. And just being able to celebrate that and always say proudly that I am from Oaxaca,” Gomez said.

Senior Riccardo Navarro shared his perspective on what it’s like being from México and getting to experience the unity there, “My family is from Guadalajara. It’s the most beautiful city in México, I feel like anybody can see that too, if you have been there. It’s really nice and over there everybody says hi to you on the streets, no matter who you are. Whatever you are doing everybody’s really respectful and I think respect is a big part of our culture. The most important thing about my culture is we’re so united as one family. That’s really all that matters,” Navarro said.

This month is about unity and celebrating diversity at PRHS, while they may feel their culture is unappreciated at school, students are embracing their cultures and striving to educate each other, along with faculty, on their differences and similarities to make a difference and make everyone feel comfortable and valued on campus.

Learn more about Hispanic Heritage month at Crimson Newsmagazine.org

SPREAD THE WORD (above): The ACT club shared Instagram posts, like the one above. They were created by club members and included facts an images of influential Hispanic people.

MONTH OF CHANGE