Hispanic Heritage Month

By: Lucero Duran Martinez

The purpose of heritage months is to recognize the people who have different cultures, different people that made a big difference in their community, and to recognize the people who left a big legacy behind. 

Freshman, Brittany Martinez-Gomez, is celebrating Hispanic Heritage at Hillside High School.  She sees this as an important month for increasing awareness about the contributions of Hispanic people.  

Hispanic Heritage month is an opportunity to build a community, according to Martinez-Gomez . “The biggest struggle for me is coming to another [country] , finding people to hang out with or being friends with.”  Martinez-Gomez has overcome this struggle, “I love Brittany, she is very kind and very respectful .” says her bff Emerita Palma Guardado.

Martinez-Gomez thinks that heritage months are important for combating misinformation and racism. 

“When people come to the U.S. from another Hispanic country they sometimes get bullied and get hated”. Her and her family have overcome this struggle by knowing how the people are here. 

Emerson Palma-Flores, Sophomore, is Supporting all of the Hipanics at Hillside High School, He is also a Hispanic he is from Honduras. He sees this as an important month to recognize the people who have overcome so much, with little knowledge. 

Hispanic Heritage is important to see so much that can happen when new people come in and others try to take advantage of them, according to Palma-Flores. “The biggest problem that many people face here are when the people come into another state is getting abused sexually, entering groups that sell drugs and being homeless.”

He also thinks that the teachers/people can help the ones coming in from another state or country by giving them tips, some knowledge about what they can achieve with little knowledge and what they can become in the future if they work really hard for it, according to Palma-Flores. “Giving them opinions, tips, and knowledge about little things can help them in the future.”