There is a line within all communities, mainly there are micro-aggressions, discrimination, and blatant off-putting things that people do. However,  when a month like Hispanic Heritage month comes along, people from all different communities gather around to celebrate. Ways to celebrate are by learning about your culture, dressing up in cultural clothing, and many more beautiful traditions.  When it comes to celebrating heritage, there is a way to be respectful, but also appreciative. A way to do that is to celebrate the people around you and understand their culture. Unfortunately, it seems as though Hispanic Heritage month is left to the dust and somewhat forgotten about, but when these students begin to bring up the topics of what it means to be Hispanic and have struggles, the community around them begins to understand more about what it’s like for them. Now, it’s time for us to listen to these students who want to share their stories. 

They were all asked a series of questions involving the topic, but the main question that was asked was, “Are you Hispanic?” It was an important enough question to ask because of the representation. Many people speak on the topic of being Hispanic–who are not–and it can be somewhat inaccurate, but when these specific students come into the picture, there is more representation than there has ever been. In the process of interviewing these students, there were many different answers and opinions, but Sammie Cruz was able to clear it all up.

Junior Sammie Cruz has always been in tune with her culture–as she is Puerto Rican.  When she was younger, she realized the beauty of being Hispanic and living her life through the eyes of someone different from others. When speaking to Sammie, the question “Why do you believe Hispanic Heritage month is important?” had come up and she responded with a strong and important answer, “I believe it’s important because there’s so many of us in this building. And we should recognize those who came before us as our ancestors and we also just should recognize the people in this building that are Hispanic and celebrate those people. So I think it’s really important,” explained Sammie.

Talking about the idea of why Hispanic Heritage month is important, Stephanie Haro had much to say as well when it came to the rest of the questions. Stephanie talked about the micro-aggressions that she experienced in the workplace mainly from other people there and how it can be very demeaning to be a person of color working in an industry that can be unwelcoming. 

When looking back on the history of Hispanic Heritage, there is a lot that can be assumed, junior Viviana Morales explains her experience with being Hispanic. “I think since my first language was Spanish. When I first got into the school I didn’t know like I barely knew anything. I think that’s a little bit of a struggle, you know, having to learn a new language they know nothing about.”

All of these people came together with one plan in mind. Representation. As this comes to an end, some questions still need to be asked and answered, but for now, if there is one thing that people can agree on, it’s that there is beauty in celebrating who you are.