Center celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

The Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by hosting a wide variety of events through Oct. 9. The center started the celebration with a Cultural Conversations panel Monday during which members of the Hispanic community provided insight into Hispanic culture and values. Wednesday, there was a Cultural Competency assembly, during which students shared their experiences studying abroad in Latin American countries. Other events over the course of the next two weeks include salsa lessons from the university’s new Salsa club “La Rebelion,” a live mariachi band for Union unplugged, promotion for the Latin Party, and a closing reception. Rebel Radio will also be hosting two music power hours during which they play non-stop Hispanic music from a playlist provided by the Latin American Student Organization. Courtney Pearson, graduate assistant for the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement, said the center is excited to promote Hispanic heritage. “It’s important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month because we have a large Hispanic culture here at the university with many students, and just giving them the opportunity to tell about their culture, celebrate what background they’ve come from and really just being able to embrace the culture,” Pearson said. Pearson said the goal of the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement is to provide ways for students to engage and learn from one another on meaningful issues outside of the classroom, and they hope to demonstrate that with their events. “So, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month really gives us the opportunity to promote Hispanic heritage as much as we can; allows people to learn, allows people to ask questions and to really just be educated,” Pearson said. Camila Velasquez, senior marketing major and Portuguese minor from Bogota, Colombia, said celebrating Hispanic heritage month is very important to her. “For me, it’s very very special because I’m definitely very in contact with my roots still every day,” Velasquez said. “So, even though I’m living in the United States, I’m still absolutely Hispanic, and my day is absolutely Hispanic. So for me, Hispanic Heritage Month is just a way to celebrate this officially.” Velasquez said she celebrates her heritage daily at home through her food, music and friends, but this provides an official way to promote it here on campus a little more. “I’m so proud of my heritage that it’s just a great way to share it with the Ole Miss community,” said Velasquez. Velasquez is also president of the Latin American Student Organization here on campus. She said the goal of the organization is to break stereotypes about Hispanic culture and rebrand how people see Hispanics. “We’re trying to show people the real Latin America,” Velasquez said. “With LASO, we want to provide a safe atmosphere for students to know the Latin American culture.” Carolina Nutt, assistant director for admissions for orientation, is originally from Colombia and believes it is important for people to learn to embrace individuals from other cultures. “It’s important to share with others that we’re different and that we may not look the same, or we may not speak the same language, but we still have similar goals and aspirations,” Nutt said. “And we all want to be here to get a college degree or advance or be better. So I like sharing with others that you can still be different but achieve things and be somebody that has aspirations.”

Ferderica Cobb