In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, ASU’s Downtown Campus students created an evening filled with traditional Hispanic music, live performances, giveaways and food, lots and lots of food.
“La Fiesta,” planned by ASU’s Programming and Activities Board, featured dance performances such as flamenco to represent the Spanish culture, samba to characterize the Brazilian culture and mariachi to present traditional Mexican music. Students who attended the event were able to create their own canvas murals, have a caricature done and make a papel picado, decorative tissue paper that is cut in elaborate designs.
“It’s a fun Tuesday night event, it’s really a great way for ASU students to taste authentic Hispanic foods and to see what we do at family gatherings and parties,” Erika Gamez said.
Food plays a vital role in the Hispanic culture, and for a few students in attendance, it was also an opportunity to taste food from different countries for the first time. Some food items included burritos, refried beans and rice, tamales, pupusas, agua frescas and pan dulce. For ASU senior Erik Velasquez, this was his first time trying El Salvadorian food.
“It really allows for students to experience the diversity within our culture through the food,” Velasquez said.
The event planned to give students the opportunity to donate blood, but United Blood Services did not end up coming to the event.
ASU junior and one of the “La Fiesta” coordinators Aracely Delgado said events like “La Fiesta” can also be a learning experience for other Hispanics to learn more about being engaged with their local community.
“It’s not a common thing to donate blood in the Hispanic culture,” Delgado said. “Since students are usually the younger generations of their families, they can donate blood and go home to their parents and share with them how important it is to actually give blood.”
Maximilian Meza, a senior and Mexican-American student at ASU, volunteered at “La Fiesta” on behalf of Changemaker, sharing with other students the many cultural attributions of what it means to be Hispanic.
“This event really allows students from the Downtown Campus to get a glimpse of the Hispanic culture,” Meza said.
Contact the reporter at akramera@asu.edu
