Despite the pandemic, organizations at Kansas State are finding ways to engage in National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs, the Hispanic American Leadership Organization and the Board of Latino Organizations are a few entities looking to celebrate the month, recognized from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.
COVID-19 has altered how some of the events will be held.
“We are expecting more people than we usually do — it has been different having to adjust to more regulations with not as many people in the same room,” Natalia Rodriguez, junior in human resources management and Spanish and president of HALO, said.
Most events will be held over Zoom to accommodate the larger crowds organizations expect.
“In any other year, the Union is full of people walking around wanting to learn about Hispanic Heritage Month and what it stands for,” Rodriguez said.
Director of DMSA Trumanue Lindsey said Zoom has worked pretty well so far.
“We’ve been averaging anywhere from 75 to 90 people at one time — a lot of the Zoom calls have been recorded so we can go back and see how many people have watched,” Lindsey said.
In the past, the quad was filled with informational tables and activities for the month. This year, most of the promotions are done electronically through social media and the K-State Today newsletter.
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Hispanic Heritage Month is as critical as ever with everything going on in the country today, Lindsey said.
“It’s extremely important when you take into consideration what’s happening with a lot of racial and civil unrest,” Lindsey said. “A lot of what we wanted to push and focus on is education and celebration. There’s a lot of untold stories or narratives about multicultural communities and our goal is to create opportunities to educate people.”
Multiple organizations participate in organizing the events.
“BOLO, which is the Board of Latino Organizations, are putting on a lot of events this semester,” Rodriguez said. “They make the calendar to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Students looking to get involved in the future can connect with student organizations in the Multicultural Center.
“Come the end of this fall semester, we will have our ribbon-cutting ceremony for our new Morris Family Multicultural Student Center,” Lindsey said. “I think that’s a great opportunity because it is something that our students have been looking towards here at K-State, and I would encourage individuals to frequent that space.”
HALO and DSMA will host the 14th Annual Midwest HALO Encuentro, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m on Oct. 6. Future events will be posted on their website as well as on the organizations’ social media pages.
