Thursday, September 23, 2010

A Progressive Journey with National Hispanic Heritage Month






By J. A. Dandridge

Fort Collins Colo. — Do “Guactoberfest”, Day of the Dead or Arizona’s SB1070 resonate with you? Well if so, you had your chance to kick off National Hispanic Heritage Month on Colorado State University’s oval this past Wednesday, September 15th. Free events like the above will be taking place now though November 2nd, so you still have a chance to celebrate with other people who are just as excited!

“All of the events are aimed to raise awareness about Latino issues that impact all people,” says CSU’s Greek Life coordinator, Richard Salas.

As I took a stroll through the Oval there were reflections that meshed the past with the present. Reverberations of music, leaving traces of orange, and yellow in the mind’s eye; that wasn’t even from the salsa making promised to students later on that day in El Centro offices! It was the musical flow of salsa band, Fleur De Cana and dance lessons going on. It was also something deeper, hidden beneath the skirts of celebration; it was the struggle it took to get to where we are today as a country, as a campus. It has only been since 1968 when President Lyndon Johnson, purposed National Hispanic Heritage week. NHH week has now evolved into a month long tribute of Latino achievement and education!

The university collaborated with countless groups to put this month’s festivities together, showing the great effort it takes for all CSU students to be a community, despite our differences. Groups like one of CSU’s diversity offices specifically catering to the Hispanic need, El Centro, National Multicultural Greek Organizations, and Association for Student Activity Programming were three main participants in putting the kick off together.

As CSU celebrates in unison with other countries like, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, we must take a moment to go back in CSU’s history.

There is always room to keep growing and this year’s celebration was certainly different than last year’s NHHM Kick off. Brianna Baker, an ASAP student volunteer, told about the contrast from even last year to this year’s participation. More students showed up this time, and CSU was also able to bring in a surrounding community to hopefully educate them on the importance of the Latin community too. The marketing has even improved as time progresses on. CSU is learning and cultivating new ways for catering to its diverse student body.

Richard Salas said “El Centro has spearheaded NHHM celebration for about 14 years now. This event has grown in importance for many social, political and historical reasons.”

Amanda Montoya, NMGO’s student representative, also tells about how long CSU has been a home to its first Multicultural Greek organizations, Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc., since September 9, 1990, now celebrating its twentieth year along with Lambda Theta Nu Sorority, Inc established at CSU October 27,1990.

CSU has facilitated events and nurtured groups like this for two decades, and “The relationship between multicultural Greeks and Colorado State University is in a positive progression,” Montoya says.

As we search topics that affect all people today, we must still keep in mind that we are growing as a campus and country. Some of the most difficult events that students will be able to talk about may be,

“Perhaps ‘SB1070’ and presentations around immigration ‘Secure Communities or Not,’ ” said Salas.

He also says they, “may at first appear to be difficult for students to have meaningful conversations about, but the programs in place, are aimed to challenge perspectives/ideas so we can have a positive learning experience and expand how we critically think about social issues”.

As CSU matures in it's multicultural relationships with the student population, we as individuals, must continue to educate ourselves and acknowledge our ability to learn even through salsa lessons!

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