Hundreds of students gathered to get a taste of a variety of Latin cultures with the kickoff to Hispanic Heritage Month on Greene Street Friday afternoon. Featuring food, music, visual art and dance, the "Sabor Latino" event let students experience various Latin American cultures.
Held from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates generations of Hispanic Americans and their deep history and culture that is intertwined with the American experience. The Latin American Student Organization on USC’s campus hosts the celebratory kickoff annually. Leaders of LASO think that exposure to diversity is important to understanding what it means to be Latin American.
Hispanic students only make up 4 percent of the undergraduate enrollment at USC. Despite that small number, many students recognize the value in celebrating the food, music and art of Latin students’ culture.
“We mostly just demonstrate what our Latin culture has to offer," said LASO vice president and fourth-year biological sciences student Daniela Becerra. “We want the community to know that we are here on campus ... though we may not be the largest population on campus.”
In the current political climate, she thinks that it is even more important to offer events like this to students on campus.
“We're not just what the media is portraying,” Becerra said. “We don’t want to be seen in a negative way.”
First-year elementary education student Camila Trujillo is grateful that this event allowed her to reconnect with her Latin heritage.
“I felt a little separated from my culture because I was born in Colombia but I left at eight months,” Trujillo said. “I’m trying to get more into my culture in college.”
Non-Hispanic students also recognized the importance of exploring a culture that is different from one’s own.
“I feel like out of all the histories, we rarely talk about Latin American history,” said Abby Legrand, a first-year undecided student . “It's a huge part of our country, a huge portion of the population is Hispanic ... it’s a part of our heritage, might as well acknowledge it and honor it.”
Becerra feels like students still have a lot of work to do in terms of embracing Latin American heritage on campus.
“I feel like we do have a responsibility,” Becerra said. “I feel like most people don’t take the initiative to get to know the culture.”