Hispanic and Latinx Heritage month, which lasts from September 15 to October 15, came to an end this week. The month celebrated the culture and history of Hispanic and Latinx contributions to the United States. In honor of this month, Choate’s Hispanic and Latinx Forum (HLF) hosted a celebratory community gathering.
In previous years, Choate’s dining service, SAGE, has prepared a themed dinner to recognize the culinary innovations the Hispanic and Latinx community has brought to the world. This year, HLF decided not to hold the themed dinner open for members of the school community and instead ordered tacos from a local restaurant and watched a video showcasing proud Hispanic and Latinx immigration stories in their opening meeting of the term on September 30.
HLF also hosted salsa dancing lessons early in the fall term, as it has in the past. HLF member Skye Figueroa ’22 found the month and HLF’s celebrations to be a moving representation of her culture. At the second meeting of the term on October 7, the cabinet showed a video on What is Culture? before diving into a discussion on how culture represents each individual and if there is a shift in culture after students come to Choate.
Although HLF mainly focuses on bringing recognition to a minority group, many HLF cabinet members still believe that HLF is a relatively unknown club at Choate and are taking the initiative to increase its presence on campus, hosting more events and gaining more members.
HLF meetings are a communal safe space, bringing Hispanic and Latinx students and allies together on campus. Cabinet members appreciate the shared community of the club and encourage newcomers to join. The HLF cabinet will be holding elections for the Secretary position this week at their next meeting, aiming to build an executive team to accomplish their goals this year.
