The Magic of Sharing Culture: Hispanic Heritage Month by Kyra Chang
From September 15th to October 15th, many people around the world celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, including the Melbourne High Spanish Honors Society. The society, also known as Realismo Mágico at Mel High, met every other Tuesday in Senora Maria Avila’s room. Their first mission was to find a way to bring attention to Hispanic Heritage month. During this month, the history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities is celebrated. Junior Jacinda Guadalupe, a member of the honors society, wanted to spread that knowledge throughout the school. “I decided to join Spanish Honor Society because I wanted to explore Spanish culture and be able to spread that knowledge throughout my school,” said Guadalupe.
On September 9, the members of the club came together to decide what would be shared on the morning announcements. They decided on making videos to show on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, each member making a video on a certain aspect of Hispanic culture. “The aspects of culture we are sharing with the school are food, people, and words/phrases. The phrases are my favorite part because they’re easy ways to incorporate hispanic culture in casual talking among peers,” said Guadalupe. Each student was assigned a day that they had to make a video for, the videos airing on the news every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of Hispanic Heritage month.
Guadalupe believed that celebrating the month was very important as Floridians. “I think it’s important to celebrate Hispanic heritage month because their rich culture should be appreciated and we can learn a lot from other countries. Especially here in Florida with a huge hispanic population, it’s respectful to understand the importance,” said Guadalupe. As the month continued, the members of the club would continue to make informational videos and plan for other ways to share culture in the future.
Caption:
Spreading Culture: Juniors Jacinda Guadalupe, Lauren Deacon, and senior De’Andre Burks sign up for what video they’re going to make for Hispanic Heritage Month. On February 9th, Spanish Honors Society members met up after school to discuss their plans for the month. The club’s main goal was to share Hispanic culture with the rest of the school. “We plan to spread hispanic culture with little activities and events, for example, for spanish heritage month we are going on the school-wide announcements to share little tidbits of culture from various hispanic countries,” said Guadalupe.
Photo by Kyra Chang