Hispanic Heritage Month, a month for appreciation and awareness of the contributions of Hispanic and Latin Americans in the United States, occurs every year during September and October. This year, it was celebrated from September 15 to October 15.   

Hill has a small Hispanic community and in alignment with DEI’s mission statement, wanted to honor and celebrate the heritage and culture of some of its students and faculty. 

At the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, DEI Student Leadership Council Members detailed their DEI-related plans for the year. “One thing that I am super excited to do this year is to meet with a diverse group of students and to document their story,” Wynnetka Magpantay’25 expressed.  

Mao Motyoshi ’24 echoed, “This year I worked on identifying and highlighting the diverse student cultures on this campus.”  

With similar goals, Motyoshi and Magpantay have begun working together on their first project. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, they have conducted interviews with Hispanic students and faculty for a podcast which were posted on “Today on The Hill” and the DEI Instagram. 

Hill also held a Hispanic Student Affinity Study Hall on September 18 where Hispanic-identifying students were able to come together as a community in the Warner Center.  

Alyssa Diwale ’25, DEI Student Leadership Council Chair, explained,“The purpose of holding these events is that we want to emphasise the importance of appreciating the cultures around us, especially Hispanic culture during this time.”  

Anna Ribeiro, Assistant Director of Stewardship and Next Generation Giving, supports this initiative of DEI. Ribeiro believes that some sterotypes of Hispanic culture such as the sexualization of Hispanic women and colorism could be broken by increased exposure of other cultures at Hill. Striving for a better understanding of the history of Hispanic countries, both the general history as well as the cultural and polical history is one such way to achieve this integration.  

Mateo Martinez-Ostos ’24, an international student from Mexico, while feeling accepted and supported at Hill, noticed that Hispanic Heritage Month isn’t as celebrated in a grand way as are other holidays at Hill. Those faculty and students who share feelings with Martinez-Ostos will be pleased to know that Diwale plans to continue to build upon more events for Hispanic Heritage Month in the future.  

“We shouldn’t just be appreciating Hispanic culture during this month, but throughout the year,” Diwale concluded.