Ohio University students will be given the opportunity to attend multiple events to learn about different Hispanic and Latino cultures.
Multiple campus organizations are coming together to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Ohio University, which will be open to anyone who is interested.
The month begins Tuesday and runs through Oct. 15. To honor it, the Multicultural Center and student organizations will aim to educate about social issues and empower Hispanic students about their heritage.
The Hispanic and Latino Student Union will put on a series of events to celebrate the month.
Carla Triana, president of the union, said the main focus of the events this year is to educate anyone who has an interest in Hispanic cultures, not just students of Hispanic descent themselves.
“This year we are focused on educating people and putting on more informational events so people on campus can really get to know our history and what we are about,” Triana said.
"Bienvenidos," the first event hosted by the union, will be held on Tuesday in the Bobcat Student Lounge at 6 p.m.
The event will start the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month by teaching students about HLSU and what they do on campus, Triana, a junior studying international business, said.
The final event from the organization, “Cual Es Tu Historia,” will take place in Baker 240 Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. This event will feature a variety of speakers sharing their different stories about cultural hardships. Even though the event is put on by HLSU, Triana said she plans on inviting other cultural and international student organizations to share their stories as well.
“I personally will be speaking about my struggles of being an undocumented immigrant,” Triana said. “Coming from Mexico to the United States, and how that has changed my life and now I'm a citizen.”
Triana said the union is really trying to focus on getting its name out and disproving negative stereotypes about immigration, which often stem from political figures such as Donald Trump.
“We immigrate here for various reasons and we’re here to prove ourselves and show the rest of the world, even here on campus, that we are genuinely good people,” she said.
Winsome Chunnu-Brayda, the associate director of the Multicultural Center, said there will be a reception Thursday in the Theater Lounge on the second floor of Baker Center where there will be a chance for students to network and meet each other.
This year’s focus will be on honoring Hispanic and Latino heritage by building toward the future. Students can celebrate this idea by attending cultural events in order to learn about different Hispanic and Latino cultures.
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The Multicultural Center will also bring in Emanuel Xavier, a gay Latino speaker, to read poems about growing up as a minority in the United States. Xavier will speak Oct. 14 in Baker Center Ballroom A at 7:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
“I expect that he is going to be very motivating and will talk about immigration and the discrimination of Latinos,” Miguel Gomez, the promotional coordinator for the Multicultural Center, said. “This event is important because students have a chance to learn about the Latino culture and the experiences of Emanuel.”
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