The Cerritos College community gathered around the amphitheater on a hot afternoon to watch some traditional Mexican performances in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.
The Puente Program and the Cerritos College MEChA chapter teamed up and put together the Danza Azteca and Baile Folklorico event this Tuesday.
The event consisted of a performance by the Aztec Dance group, Ollin Itotani, spanish poetry by Alex followed by the Baile Folklorico performance by MEChA.
Along with the performances, the Cerritos College Puente Program set up a booth where students can acquire information about the program and spin the ‘wheel of fortune’ for free prizes.
Paola Hernandez, concealing department clerk, volunteered to run the booth and was spreading awareness of not only the program, but Hispanic Heritage Month as well.
“Today we’re having heritage dancers that are going to be here for a while and we’re also having a little event here with raffles, prizes and giving out latino candy to promote Spanish Heritage,” Hernandez said.
The Ollin Itotani group performed an aztec dance first that consisted of 11 dancers including former Cerritos College student Fernanda Gonzales.
After, which student adviser of MEChA Alejandro Lopez, read his Spanish poetry and then introduced the Baile Folklorico.
Lopez’s goal as the adviser of MEChA is to promote the latino culture and identity.
“It’s about giving back to your community and getting involved. It’s putting on events like this where you can feel like you’re part of the school, like you belong here and aren’t excluded. We’re saying ‘Welcome,'” Lopez said.
The event was coordinated by both Lopez and Rosa Carrillo, co-cordinator and counsellor for the Puente Program.
Carrillo was impressed with the success of the event and how many members of the community attended.
“The show went good. A couple of glitches here and there, but overall I think it went well,” Carrillo said.
According to Carrillo, the school is made up of 64 percent latino students. Carrillo believes that the Hispanic Culture has a lot to offer and should be celebrated more in order to share the culture with the students.
“We have a lot of different positive things that we’ve contributed to society, to this campus and to the community. We just want people to see that culture is important. Hopefully they (the community) will, in tern, continue to be a part of the bigger picture of success for our latino students,” Carrillo added.
The next Hispanic Heritage Month event will be a presentation on the Philosophy of Ortega and Gasset that will be held this Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in room SS137.
