In the midst of Hispanic Heritage Month, UF’s celebrations include more than just food and music.
Miami-Dade County School Board members voted Tuesday to create a program that would make the month focus more on Hispanic contributions to society. Hispanic student organizations at UF have been highlighting Hispanic contributions throughout the month.
The Hispanic Heritage Month executive board works hard every year to create a holistic calendar of events, said Olivia Garcia, the director of UF’s Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures.
“There is an event each day for the month, which means I’m exhausted,” she said.
As part of the month, Toño Rosario will be performing tonight in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. A carnival is planned for Sunday and a closing ceremony will be held Tuesday before the month ends Oct. 14.
UF’s Hispanic Heritage Month is the largest student-run Hispanic heritage month in the country, Garcia said.
This year, spoken word artist Michael Reyes was the guest speaker at the Hispanic Heritage Month opening ceremony.
“People don’t understand that there isn’t one single definition of what being Latino means,” said Hispanic Heritage Month executive director and UF sociology senior Gisselle Bermudez, 21.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 10/10/2014]
