September April 30, 2014 10, 2014
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IssueIssue no.3 No.vol. 30 Vol.51 50
La Fiesta activities during Hispanic Heritage Month Photo by Lindsey Roberts
Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations kick off with La Fiesta Zara Qureshi Features Writer Qureshi.15@wright.edu
Students celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month at La Fiesta, the first of a series of campus events celebrating the historical month, on Tuesday, Sept. 9. Many activities were available for students to enjoy such as making Mexican arts and crafts, games, visiting vendor and cultural booths by Spanish Club and Latinos Unidos, answering trivia on Latin American countries, capitals, scholars, and poets for prizes, learning salsa and merengue dances taught by DJ Gomez, an Alumni student, and eating food from the local Hispanic fusion restaurant El Meson. The Asian/Hispanic/Native American (AHNA) Center is re-
sponsible for the planning of many cultural events at WSU, including those for Hispanic Heritage Month. AHNA Center Director Mai Nguyen talked about why she thinks cultural events like these are important. “Colleges and universities are some of the most diverse places,” Nguyen said. “You have the opportunity to meet people from many various cultures, but sometimes there is a barrier because not everyone has had exposure to people of different backgrounds, so events like these give us an opportunity to really bridge that gap and bring people together by sharing the beautiful cultures of every group that enrich our nation.” Alex Rodriguez, a student who was on the planning committee for the event, also expressed
that celebrating cultural months like Hispanic Heritage Month is important because it allows students to learn about cultures different from their own. “I believe it is critical for students to learn more about other cultures, and some students won’t go out of their way to learn about them,” Rodriguez said. “So it is important for events like these to attract the students into educating themselves and making connections with other students outside of their circles.” La Fiesta is held every year in the Quad and students have especially enjoyed the festivities hosted by DJ Gomez, said Nguyen, so it was made sure that music and dance lessons were brought to this year’s event, but with a few changes. “We decided to not just play
Latino music this year, but music from other cultures too, such as Arabic music, because some of the students last year also wanted to hear music from their own cultures so that they could share their own dances, but we did not have it,” Nguyen said. “It’s just about that opportunity of shar-
“...events like these give us an opportunity to really bridge that gap and bring people together by sharing the beautiful cultures of every group that enrich our nation.”
ing culture. Music is so universal. It brings people together.” Dorothy Alvarez, senior lecturer of Spanish, who was also
involved in the planning of the events, expressed what she hopes students took from the event. “I hope for WSU students to learn about the Hispanic culture,” Alvarez said. “And about its people who have positively influenced and enriched the United States and society in multiple fields, like science, art, politics, sports, music, food, culture and the economy.” National Hispanic Heritage Month is officially celebrated from September 15 to October 15 and marks the independence days of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Chile. Upcoming campus events include the showing of the documentary film “La Camioneta” on Sept. 17 and a Latino college student self-efficacy lecture on Sept. 25.