Starting September 15th and ending on October 15th, at the Glendale Community College main campus. There will be a series of online and in-person meetings celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.

Hispanic History Month is a time when we can appreciate the Hispanic culture, music, food, and traditions. During this time, all over the media, you can see that many shows and movies have Hispanic actors or directors that are being featured during this month. This celebration started only as a week in 1968 but soon developed into a month in the year 1988 by former President Ronald Reagan. This event taking place at Glendale Community College has made the campus more diverse and inclusive of people from different backgrounds. There is a post on the Glendale Community College news page explaining this month’s event being held at different places on the campus. Two events that seem to be worth mentioning are two online meetings on Zoom and they take place on the 24th and 25th of September. 

The online event that is being held on the 24th is being organized by Dr. Jacqueline Martiez. She is going to be talking about how Hispanic communities are incredibly diverse and hard to generalize in the United States. She is going to explain how we can learn and appreciate the many things that the Hispanic community can offer, and bring the community together as a whole. Dr. Martinez is also going to be sharing her subjective knowledge on communication Latina philosophy for exerting freedom and responsibility within the community. This will not only diversify the school but also draw in more students from more diverse backgrounds to pursue an education at Glendale Community College because they will feel like their culture is welcomed and appreciated on the campus. 

The next online event that will be held on the 25th is being organized by the Arizona Poet Laureate, Alberto Rios. During this presentation, Alberto Rios is going to be taking a deep dive into cultural identity, literary craft, and language, and explain his Mexican-American heritage on the US-Mexico border. He will also explain how the English and Spanish dialects can be both a barrier and a bridge on both sides and blend them to try and express the complex realities that are humanly shared. The main goal of this event is to bring both the American and Mexican cultures together as one so that there are shared beliefs and traditions that can be passed on for generations to come.

Sources

https://www.gccaz.edu/news/2024/gcc-celebrates-hispanic-heritage-month

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2024/09/18/how-hispanic-heritage-month-started/75275499007/#:~:text=The%20celebration%20began%20in%201968,under%20President%20Lyndon%20B.%20Johnson.