Latinx Heritage Month runs Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 and provides students, faculty and staff an intentional space to celebrate Latinx heritage while connecting with peers.
The month’s celebrations will start with a tabling kickoff event on Thursday, Sept. 15 12-1:30 p.m. in the second-floor lobby of Talley. Latinx student organizations will have tables set up to interact with students and tell them about different ways to get involved on campus.
“Last year, at that table and kickoff, a lot of [first-years] were very excited because they had no idea that the orgs even existed,” said Gavin Bell, assistant director of Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA). “Some people will freak out, shut down and maybe not engage with every single thing that first week, which is totally fine. Once things simmer down and plateau for the semester before midterms, [the tabling event] allows them to be able to have a second look at organizations that could be available to them.”
Roma Bustillo, a graduate student in higher education administration and the graduate assistant for MSA, is excited to see student organizations back in full swing at this year’s event.
“It’s beautiful because I feel like all the orgs are more on their feet post COVID, and we’re also seeing other orgs come back,” Bustillo said. “There’s a lot more stability and everyone’s ready to take action and be a part of these events.”
Alumnus Saul Flores will give the Latinx Heritage Month keynote speech Monday, Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m. in Nelson Hall. Flores will speak about his experience walking over 5000 miles through Central and South America to raise awareness of the dangers faced by many immigrants traveling to the U.S. Tayah Butler, assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Poole College of Management is the organizer of this year’s keynote event.
“I think the current student population … has lived through an incredibly traumatic and complicated experience,” Butler said. “My hope for my current students is that [they’re] going to eventually find the lessons of perseverance and resilience and strength that can come from living through something so traumatic. As Saul tells his story of perseverance and resilience, I’m hoping in my best case scenario that students will be able to make a parallel connection.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 28, MSA will hold a Chat n Chew where a limited number of students can enjoy a variety of different Latinx cuisines and have conversations about Latinx culture and experience.
To close out the month on Oct. 14, there will be a dance night with Sube Ritmo, NC State’s only Latin dance team, that is a chance for everyone to kick back, have fun and connect.
The term “Latinx” includes a range of varied backgrounds and cultures. Much of this year’s Latinx Heritage Month programming focuses on inclusivity and representation. According to Butler, it is important to be intentional about representing a range of identities and stories.
“The challenge that all of us have when we are trying to create space for marginalized voices is the oversimplification of a narrative,” Butler said. “All of those experiences in [a] group of people are extremely diverse, extremely dynamic. They’re not a monolith. We have to be persistent in our efforts to resist the oversimplification and, by default, falling onto one single narrative. So we need a variety of events, we need a variety of experiences that intentionally pull apart some of those stories and some of that narrative.”
To address this challenge, MSA and Butler are working closely with students to get input on what programming the student body needs. This allows students to have a say in how the University recognizes Latinx heritage while providing leadership and professional development opportunities.
“We reached out to a lot of the different orgs on campus and got a mixture of folks,” Bell said. “What we’ll do is usually have different teams for each specific event that we do for the heritage month to where the students have an opportunity to lead, facilitate and just have some resume points at the end of the day.”
Based on student input, Butler organized a VIP session with Flores where a limited number of students will be able to meet and connect with him in a more personal setting. This balance between wide-reaching and smaller programming was an additional goal of Bell’s throughout the planning process.
“One of the things that we try to keep in mind is having a mixture between large scale programming and intimate programming,” Bell said. “Things like the dance night, for example, that’s an opportunity for anybody to come in and you know, learn about the culture, be able to have some fun, meet people. Then there’s also things like the Chat n Chew where I think we cap it at 35 to 40 students to where that can be a little bit more of an intimate conversation, especially conversation as it pertains to the Latinx community.”
MSA will continue the support and celebration of the Latinx community that is emphasized during the heritage month throughout the year, by connecting students to the community and supporting individuals, first and foremost as human beings.
