Visiting Assistant Professor Maribel Perez (center) poses for a photo with members of the musical act Mariachi Chapala en Tampa. Photos by Ana Lense ’28
Mariachi belted their “canciones,” faculty and students danced “la macarena” and aromatics of delicious foods and drinks wafted throughout the air of Eckerd College’s James Center for Molecular and Life Sciences.
The College’s Spanish faculty, including: Assistant Professor of Spanish Matthew Burner, Ph.D.; Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish Maribel Perez, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Spanish Axel Presas, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Spanish Cristina Delano, Ph.D.; and Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish Talina Ugarte, Ph.D., celebrated the end of Hispanic Heritage Month by hosting a public event on Oct. 15 featuring students’ handmade artistic posters and games like the “loteria” or Mexican bingo.
“It is in the Eckerd model, to represent and celebrate diversity,” explained Burner. “We teach Spanish here, but we also have a diverse point of view when it comes to teaching language and culture.”
Burner added that the creation of the new Hispanic Heritage celebration resulted from the keen efforts of the Spanish discipline and its faculty. The goal was to celebrate the student body and to involve them with Hispanic culture—the first steps involved collaborating with students who created posters for the event.
Latinos Unidos member Melissa Castro (left) and Diana Velez show off the Hispanic Heritage Celebration art wall.
“We have an art wall by the students from Spanish 101 and Spanish 201 who created different art with the inspiration of the Hispanic aspect,” said Perez.
Students at the event then voted on their favorite poster for different categories like: “Palabras en Acción,” “Tradiciones populares,” “Arte académico” and “El arte por el arte.”
Attendees at the event played “loteria,” a Mexican bingo game.
“I think the best way to do it is to bring music, to bring art, to bring speakers, different dances, so people can enjoy themselves here at Eckerd. We are 21 Spanish-speaking countries, so there is a lot to learn and a lot to explore because every country has something special, something different,” Perez concluded.
Ugarte commented, “Many students don’t have the opportunity, or they haven’t had the opportunity to travel, and this is a great event to show students different cultures. It’s a way to learn and understand what people have done for this country, contribute to this country, and also to learn about other cultures within this country.”
More than 115 students and the Latinos Unidos club participated in the event. The students provided their insight about what they felt in response to this event and its importance.
Melissa Castro, a senior psychology student and member of Latinos Unidos from Bradenton, Florida said, “Having events like this really make me feel welcome, make me feel invited. And the importance of having these is so other people can also feel welcomed and invited too.”
The music and festive atmosphere kept the students on the dance floor for most of the night at the inaugural Hispanic Heritage Celebration.
Another member of Latinos Unidos and senior in anthropology, from San Antonio, Texas, Diana Velez beamed, “Seeing the Puerto Rican flag, I got a swell of happiness—like my culture’s there.”
“Being from South Florida, which has a very populated Hispanic community already, it’s good to just show awareness of everyone to people who are from areas that maybe don’t have much Hispanic culture where they are from, “ said Nicholas Squeri, a sophomore in animal studies, from Davie, Florida. “Just to show awareness to everyone, and to help spread how much Hispanic people have contributed to our country and how much they did for us is incredibly important.”
The events’ vibrant atmosphere set the precedent for what is to come for the future annual celebration and honoring of Hispanic culture.
“This is just the beginning,” Ugarte said.
