On October 17, the Students United In Multicultural Education club (S.U.M.E.), invited three Hispanic individuals with diverse interests and a common cultural background to speak at this year’s Hispanic Heritage assembly. The three speakers, all of whom are Puerto Rican, spoke about what being Hispanic means to them and how it has shaped their identities throughout their lives.
Katlyn Rodriquez, a former contestant on “So You Think You Can Dance,” spoke to the community about her experiences as a Latina dancer, in both performances a
nd as a teacher at the studio she founded with her family. She explained, “Being Hispanic is a challenge. When I go to dance competitions, most [of the competitors] have blonde hair, blue eyes.” She continued, “Although I did dye my hair blonde, they still haven’t accepted me. Blue contacts are next!”
Bilingual stand-up comedian Edgar Rivera, who has appeared on Univision, Telemundo, and Mundo Fox, performed a brief routine for the audience and spoke of the impact his culture has on his career. He shared a story of how his father had attempted to dissuade him from becoming a comedian, and instead tried to convince him to pursue a career as a super in the Bronx, just as he had. On becoming a latino comic, Rivera said that “it has been very hard. The mainstream circuit doesn’t approve of latinos that much. To this very day, when I walk into a club, I can feel someone looking at me and thinking, ‘Here comes that latino comic,’ like I’m not even supposed to be there.”
Finally, Julius Almenaz III, an 11 year veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces spoke about his current career as a New York City police officer and what his heritage means to him on a daily basis, in addition to reminding the audience why we celebrate different cultures in the first place. He reflected, “I’ve lost quite a few friends over these tours. And I’ll tell you, it doesn’t matter what color you are. White, black, yellow, green, we all bleed the same color, and that’s red. Look at the person to your left and to your right. That’s what military service is all about. You pick each other up, watch each others’ backs, and that’s what gets you through hard times…There’s no greater bond between individuals than a bond shared in times of conflict. That’s when people come together. And that’s what we’re celebrating here today.”
Randy Slaughter, Fieldston’s Diversity Coordinator, provided insight into how the assembly has evolved over the years, and how it led to this year’s iteration. “We’ve been doing the Hispanic Heritage assembly for quite a few years now, and it’s gone through many changes,” he said. “This year, the organizers, [Madison DeJesus and Christina Franqui], planned to move [the focus] away from Fieldston,” he explained, “They wanted to not just look at the culture, but how latinos are out in the world, doing a variety of different occupations one might not even necessarily tend to associate automatically with latinos.”
Students appeared to have mixed reactions to the individual speakers, but overall the assembly successfully celebrated and shared aspects of Latino culture.
