As a freshman, Andre Calderon struggled to make friends. He was born and raised in Cancún, Mexico and decided to come to the United States to attend college at USC, but said he didn't feel at home in South Carolina right away.
Now the vice president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the fourth-year biomedical engineering student said his involvement with organizations and university events helped him feel more at home away from home.
National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 and celebrates Hispanic cultures and history. With the month wrapping up Tuesday, Calderon said the university should put forth more effort to host events surrounding the holiday.
Calderon is involved with the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) and said SHPE and LASO "would definitely be down to probably hold something a little bigger with the university's support."
LASO president Gabriella Velasquez said she agrees and the purpose of Hispanic Heritage Month is to celebrate both the history and current lives of Hispanic and Latino individuals. The third-year economics and finance student said Hispanic Heritage Month is important to her and her culture, as her parents are from Guatemala.
"One of the biggest phrases that I identify with is 'I am my ancestors' wildest dream," Velasquez said.
Velasquez said she views the month as an opportunity to celebrate herself and the history of her family.
Velasquez is from the United States and celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month each year. Though Hispanic Heritage Month is a holiday in the United States, Calderon said it is not celebrated in Mexico.
"I'm not super involved," Calderon said. "I never heard of [Hispanic Heritage Month] until I moved to the United States. I honestly don't even know if that's like an American thing or if they do it in other places."
Sept. 16 is Mexican Independence Day and occurs during Hispanic Heritage Month, but Calderon said he did not see any celebrations happening on campus that day this year. He said he noticed LASO holding a few events to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, but has not seen it anywhere else.
Calderon said he thinks Mexican Independence Day should be celebrated more than Cinco de Mayo in America.
"If you were to celebrate a Mexican holiday out of your good heart, as a country, I would think you would celebrate our independence more than a battle that had not much impact on our history,” Calderon said.
Third-year operations and supply chain student Ashley Mason said she believes the purpose of Hispanic Heritage Month is to acknowledge the many diverse smaller cultures that make up Hispanic culture as a whole.
Mason and her father are from the U.S. and her mother is from Venezuela, but she said she does not really take part in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.
"I wouldn’t really say I celebrate it as a big thing," Mason said. "Especially with my mom being a typical Hispanic mother ... I feel like I’m very aware of my culture, so I don’t really think I’ve ever really had a specific, like, 'Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.'”
Camila Correa, third-year international studies student, was born in Colombia but has lived in the United States for most of her life. Correa is the public relations director for LASO.
Correa said she believes Hispanic Heritage Month is important because it occurs during the time of many Central American independence days. The first day of Hispanic Heritage Month marks the independence days of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
"It's just like, being remembered for the same reason that everybody else is remembered — for their independence days. Just the fight, the honor that came with it, the liberation of it and to just be a celebration that will never be forgotten," Correa said.
Correa said she uses the time of Hispanic Heritage Month to become more aware of Latino culture, such as poetry and art.
Correa said LASO hosts a number of events for Hispanic Heritage Month and that they create a more diverse community at USC.
Daniela Buniak, a first-year biomedical engineering student from Venezuela, said Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to be proud of where you are from and to show other people the culture you come from. Along with a few other students, Buniak said she has not noticed many events taking place for Hispanic Heritage Month.
Several students said they believe USC should do more to celebrate and promote Hispanic Heritage Month.
“Honestly, I would love to see the university celebrating this in a bit of a more appropriate way," Calderon said. "I know that it would make me feel more at home."
He said the only events he heard about were organized by LASO and the Latino fraternity. He would like to see more general, campus-wide events that celebrate Hispanic culture.
“If you’re going to celebrate something, you’re going to celebrate big. If not, why even bother?” Calderon said.
Mason said she believes USC should host more events for Hispanic Heritage Month and more cultural events all together. Mason said she has a lot of international student friends who have a hard time making American friends, so hosting more events to promote diversity could possibly help them feel more comfortable at USC.
Buniak said she thinks the university should make Hispanic Heritage Month a period of larger celebrations and events in order to help students become more excited about celebrating Hispanic culture.
Correa said she thinks the university makes less effort to promote Hispanic cultural events than other cultural events because of the small Hispanic population on campus.
LASO will continue to host events through the remainder of Hispanic Heritage Month.