Tapping feet and swaying hips lined the bricks of Medallion Plaza at Elon University’s annual Hispanic Heritage Month Kickoff. The kickoff is the first of many events to honor Latin American countries and their cultures. The event was hosted by El Centro and Elon’s Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education.
Students from across campus danced in the plaza, ate traditional Hispanic food and found community in one another as a live Latine band played throughout the evening.
Amy Gutierrez-Luviano, assistant director of CREDE and one of the lead organizers of this event, said she and El Centro student coordinators Edward Hernandez and Maria Casseraeu have been working together to organize this event since last semester.
“My students started planning this last semester,” Gutierrez-Luviano said. “I started working over the summer. I just started in June. And so we've been at it all semester getting the band, getting all the details together.”
When asked about the theme this year, “Floreciendo Juntos,” or “Blooming Together,” she reinforced their goal of welcoming and uniting all into the Latine communities on campus.
“‘Floreciendo Juntos,’ it just means that we're all here united to help the community, teach others about the community and just all feel like we're a part of something together and blooming in that,” Gutierrez-Luviano said.
Freshman Naje’ Gray said she volunteered in her high school’s culture fair, and she enjoys learning about other cultures. Gray came to Medallion Plaza with people from her floor, having heard of El Centro and the Latine fraternities and sororities on Elon’s campus.
Gray said she especially enjoyed the live local band, which played Latine tunes as the sun set on the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month.
“It was nice hearing it,” Gray said. “I don’t normally hear this kind of music.”
Gray said she looks forward to attending more events hosted by CREDE and El Centro, eager to learn more about communities outside of her own on Elon’s campus.
“I’m glad that Elon hosts events like this,” Gray said. “You get to meet more people and learn about new cultures.”
Elon graduate student Claire Woodley said she also enjoyed stepping out of her comfort zone.
Woodley tried the traditional Latine dishes and said she loved the ambience the band brought to the event.
“I definitely want to catch the next event,” Woodley said. “Anyone can come and enjoy and see people they know, so it’s really great.”
The next event to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month is a screening of “Sunset over America” and “The Return-Family Separation” at 2 p.m. Sept. 16 in Turner Theatre. A conversation with film producer Françoise Nieto-Fong and film director, Matías Rojas Valencia, will follow the screening.