At OHS, we have a large population of students who do not speak English as a first language or do not speak English at all. The majority of these students are first generation Americans from Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America. In September 2024, I wanted to make it a priority to highlight Hispanic Heritage Month and the various Spanish clubs and communities at OHS in The Charger. As someone who has an immigrant father who is Spanish, this topic hit home for me. Within this issue we highlighted both OHS English Language Learning classes that celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month and a new club started by high school students to teach English to elementary students who primarily speak Spanish. It brought me great joy to be able to cover the Spanish communities within the Oxford School District. To the right is the cover of the September 2024 issue of The Charger, which I designed.

During my time with The Charger, one of the events we always cover is the OHS Festival of Nations. The Festival of Nations is an event held by my high school that encourages students to set up tents in the Charger Yard to share their culture. These tents are often a cumulative effort of students from the same culture, and often include brochures, food, and fun activities. In recent school years, students have also performed dances and songs native to their culture on the stage in the Charger Yard. This is an extremely important event for OHS because it gives students an opportunity to share their culture while both bonding with and educating their peers. The photo to the left is the April/May 2023 cover of The Charger.