By Mia Romero | National Hispanic Heritage Month is one of the many multicultural celebrations that are celebrated across the world. Howard Payne University’s (HPU) Spanish club, “Amigos Unidos,” partnered with Student Experience to host a Hispanic Heritage Festival on Monday, Oct. 3, for all students to attend.
“We do plan on working with Student Experience to host a Hispanic Heritage Festival where we are going to play games, listen to music, try awesome foods, and just be with one another, be with other students,” said professor Danny Brunette-López, the head of the Department of Spanish and Hispanic Studies.
Some of the activities students participated in included a jalapeño eating contest, dancing, and the bingo game “Loteria.”
Brunette-López said that the festival was open for all students to attend and enjoy. He also said the same about HPU’s Spanish club, “Amigos Unidos.”
“We invite students from all across campus, all walks of life, to come to this festival, and join Amigos Unidos; it’s not a club solely for Hispanic students, but it’s open to everyone. You do not have to speak Spanish to go to the festival, or to join the club; just come, bring yourself and have a good time celebrating with us,” said Brunette-López.
The primary mission of “Amigos Unidos” is to spread cultural awareness on campus and in the community.
“One of the main purposes is to expose students to cultures and perspectives from different countries, especially Hispanic countries,” said Brunette-López.
Gillian Cox, a sophomore psychology major, is the president of Amigos Unidos. She said that although coming from a Hispanic background, she did not grow up learning the language.
“Growing up I wasn’t taught, and I didn’t have a great understanding of it. My Spanish classes and joining Amigos Unidos, have really allowed me to learn more about my heritage and culture; I’ve really loved embracing who I am,” said Cox.
Providing students like Cox the opportunity to learn more about the Hispanic culture and the language is something that Brunette-López feels passionately about.
“We really have to face the reality that the Hispanic population in this country is only going to grow every year. The more that we know about the Hispanic culture and be multicultural, and the more that we can be bilingual by learning the Spanish language, is going to prove very important in the coming decades,” said Brunette-López.
As a testament of truth to Brunette’s claims about the growth of the Hispanic population, Howard Payne was recently declared a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The Hispanic Heritage Festival celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month was a great way to honor this declaration.
The festival is only one of the many multicultural events that HPU students can look forward to experiencing in the coming years.
“We want to look at this as a recurring or annual event, and students should expect to see more events and celebrations like this across our campus that celebrate multiculturalism,” said Brunette-López. “Whether that is Hispanic Heritage Month or Black History Month, we want to recognize the importance of these celebrations, traditions, and cultures. Amigos Unidos would like to continue to work with Student Experience in the future to be able to bring other events, whether that’s through dance, music, or food, to the university.”
Another event students attended was the Dia de Los Muertos Celebration put together by Amigos Unidos and the Student Government Association on Nov. 1.
They discussed the history and traditions of the holiday, ate traditional food, watched the movie Coco, and students were able to bring items to place on a traditional altar that was set up for the holiday.