Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated throughout the country in a variety of ways, such as parades, parties, and social media campaigns, and Loyola students are celebrating through programming, advocacy, and the work of their own student organizations.
Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated yearly from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 to honor the languages, cultures, and histories of people whose ancestors originate from Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean, and Central America.
Biological sciences sophomore and president of the Hispanic Alliance, Cesar Espinoza, hoped the efforts of his organization and others on campus can collectively work to promote Hispanic Heritage Month.
While, according to Espinoza, the organization is still finding its footing, the Hispanic Alliance has some events in store for students to celebrate Hispanic Heritage. One event will be an open discussion to gauge interest in the organization and get feedback, and the other will be a tabling event on Oct. 13 to celebrate Dia de la Raza, or Day of the Races.
“The goal for this event is to celebrate the unity of people regardless of our race, beliefs, or origins for everyone here on campus,” Espinoza said. “I hope that our efforts, along with other student organizations that are also promoting [Hispanic Heritage Month], can go a long way in terms of recognizing our student body since around 1/4th of all students are Hispanic and there is not as much representation [as] I’d like to see for a group that makes up a good population of all students.”
From the way Loyola celebrates Hispanic Heritage this year, Espinoza hopes to see an expanded appreciation for Hispanic culture across campus, with the Hispanic Alliance becoming a “cornerstone” student organization.
“I’m confident that with my team [and] all the other great student orgs that would hopefully be interested in collaborating with us down the line, we can make the Hispanic population feel much more represented and offer multiple ways to involve everyone,” Espinoza said.
Loyola is currently chartering the first chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in Louisiana, and while the organization has not been able to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month through programming yet, its members have a lot of ideas planned for just how to do so.
When the organization becomes fully registered, some of the events that its executive board would like to host include socials that are focused on dancing and workshops that are focused on health, education, and the arts.
Journalism junior and president of the Loyola chapter of the National Association for Hispanic Journalists Mabel Regalado-Hernandez also responded on behalf of the Loyola chapter of the National Association for Hispanic Journalists Broadcast Journalism.
“We are very grateful to be part of Loyola’s community as the first student chapter of NAHJ in Louisiana, in which they enrich and allow us as Hispanics to thrive and to share our stories across campus,” Regalado-Hernandez said.
The Student Government Association has also conducted programming centered around Hispanic Heritage throughout the month.
Lagniappe coordinator for the University Programming Board, mass communications and public relations sophomore Adriana Escobar, spearheaded the idea for an event where participants could make their own pinatas.
“We came up with this idea to create your own little piñatas. So the piñata is really symbolic through history, not just in Central America and Mexico, but also throughout Europe and South America. But I thought it was a nice symbol for Hispanic Heritage Month,” Escobar said.
Citing recent social issues with the Hispanic community over recent months, this Hispanic Heritage Month was really important to Escobar.
“I just felt I needed to do something that was fun, entertaining, and also just lighthearted for Hispanic Heritage Month. So that was what we decided to do,” she said
In the two weeks of Hispanic Heritage Month that have since passed, Escobar believed that the university has done a “really nice, tasteful job of doing Hispanic Heritage Month.”
She commended the Hispanic Alliance and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for the work that they have done this month.
“I feel like from the organizations, they’ve been doing a great job at making it known that it is Hispanic Heritage Month,” Escobar said.
According to Student Government Association President Nicholas Keen, the Hispanic Alliance and SGA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion committee will be doing a joint partnership for a cultural education and community celebration on Tuesday, Oct. 7, in the Peace Quad.
Keen says that as an organization, something equity and inclusion is trying to improve on is “taking the time and space to listen to the people that are actually in that community is important for us to do … I think that a lot of people are not fully aware of how big of a Hispanic population we have on campus, and not really taking the time to appreciate them […] especially because there is such a dark climate surrounding the school, outside of it especially, so just being there for people that you know and being there for others is the best way to celebrate them.”
