October 15, 2022, was the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month and this is how we celebrated here at Explore. Throughout the month of September and into the month of October was Hispanic Heritage Month. The purpose of Hispanic Heritage Month is to celebrate all diverse and unique Hispanic cultures and traditions. Here at Explore, we celebrated by creating many different projects.

In Visual and Performing Arts, Ms. Angela Cirillo created a project based on Hispanic/Italian Heritage Month. It incorporated art, music, and lyrics to tell the story of the different heritages. We chose a song for both Italian Heritage Month and Hispanic Heritage Month, wrote about it and we then created our own art for each aspect.

Another project we did was in Spanish Class, with Señora Diana Fiore who had us create a Dia De Los Muertos project. We were required to choose either an influential person of Hispanic Heritage or a relative who had passed away. We created an altar about that person or people. We also were asked to answer questions and present our assignment to the class once we were finished.

In science class, Ms. Mariel Teschlog gave us an assignment where we had to choose a Hispanic scientist and create a trading card of that individual. We were required to answer questions and decorate our cards. We also did a crossword and word search involving influential Hispanic scientists, which we then could choose from to finish our project.

8th grader Laila Brown says “I believe that the Heritage Months are important because it forces children to learn about other cultures and traditions.”

Laila says she finds the importance of these Heritage Months more as a visual perspective. It shows how many cultures there are and the importance of other cultures. Laila describes how children should be pushed to learn more. The importance is not just to celebrate but to experience things as well.

Laila also says “I like to learn about these things because it teaches me more about where some inventions came from”.

To her, celebrating the uniqueness and beliefs of others is important to her. The background behind the stories, cultures, and beliefs of these different communities is what is most important. Laila thinks that these Heritage Months not only help to celebrate and honor famous people from Hispanic backgrounds but it helps us all to connect with other cultures as a whole.

So for Hispanic Heritage Month, there is a lot of diversity. Through Explore there is so much you can do. Honoring, celebrating, and creating are all ways we here at school have helped to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.