Students dashed, danced and scored on Flavet Field to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
UF’s Hispanic Student Association put on a 5K and field day Sunday morning as part of the month-long cultural celebration, said Kendra Blandon, the Hispanic Heritage Month coordinator. The field day included activities such as a Zumba exercise, soccer tournament and bean bag toss.
The annual heritage celebration began at UF in 1996 as a week-long event, Blandon, a 20-year-old UF religion and international studies senior said. The festivities now last a month, spanning from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
The event attracted more than 100 participants and was funded by a variety of sponsors, including $3,800 from Student Government, Blandon said.
Participants donated more than $1,000 for UF Chispas, a UF student organization that aims to address the needs of immigrants, Blandon said.
“Since it’s so early in the school year and it’s a lot of Latinx Gators’ first introduction to the UF community and to the other Hispanic Gators,” Blandon said, “we want them to feel that this is a place where they can always come to make new friends and meet new people.”
The run provided an opportunity for Carmen Florez, a 20-year-old UF psychology senior, to work out with three of her friends. The four of them made a “walking squad” and strolled through the course together.
The course was different than a typical 5K because participants faced fun obstacles while they ran, such as an inflatable climbing wall, Florez said.
Florez said she’s attended all of the Hispanic Heritage Month activities that Hispanic Student Association has put on in the past few weeks, including an art show and pageant, she said.
“I just wanted to support the Hispanic Heritage Month team,” Florez said.
Events like this are about celebrating culture, said Shiselle Povedano, a field day coordinator and a 20-year-old UF economics and public relations senior.
“It’s about getting all of us together, sweating together, laughing together, bonding together through the struggle of running five kilometers,” Povedano said.
Contact Gillian Sweeney at gsweeney@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @gilliangsweeney
Participants face off in a soccer tournament celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. The field day activities followed a 5K race that raised money for UF Chispas.
