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| From the Diamondback, Monday, September 22, 1997. An Independent Student Newspaper-University of Maryland, College Park. Maryland Media Inc. 1996 By Alisha Chaudry Special to the Diamondback. |
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| The Hispanic Heritage Coalition sponsored its annual festival Friday on Hornbake Mall to raise student awareness about Latino affairs and to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. The festival's activities included dance lessons, music and food and several educational presentations from members of Latino organizations geared at educating the campus about the cultural traditions of the Latino community. Vilma Najera, secretary of the Hispanic Heritage Coalition and the chairwoman of the festival, was pleased with the response to the event. 'It is important that we hold these events because they help reach out to other people. It lets the campus know that we are here and we want to be a part of the whole campus and not just be a little club,' Najera said. Other Latino organizations represented were the Latino Student Union; La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity; the Society of Hispanic Engineers and the Hispanic Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Association. While all of these organizations are geared towards the Latino student body, they welcome all members. 'We want to open it up to everyone because we have a little bit of everyone in us,' Najera said. 'Black, white ... there is such a wide spectrum within the Latino/Hispanic community.' Students generally had high praise for the festival. 'It is nice to come out and see cultural activities going on. Many people on this campus are unaware of different cultures. Hopefully, this will open their eyes to show them that there is more out there,' said Robert Watters, a sophomore computer science major. Latinos say they hope this exhibition of Hispanic culture will show others what they are all about. 'I hope that people come away with a different stereotype than the typical gangbangers' and see that there are Latinos out there who are trying to improve things for themselves,' said Jacob Pimentel, a member of the Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity. With other upcoming scheduled events in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Najera said she hopes the festival will encourage others to attend. 'We are not about making ourselves better than everyone else, we just want to include everyone in the Latino culture,' Najera said. |
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