Highschool Highlights: A Grand Fiesta at Riverbend High School

National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place annually from September 15th to October 15th and is an entire month of celebration of the culture and heritage of Latin American countries.

It is celebrated all around the globe, and each year, the Riverbend High School Spanish department honors Hispanic Heritage Month in some way through decorations, games, and club meetings. 

This year, however, the Spanish department took it to another level, hosting an all-out fiesta! 

The Spanish Club, Spanish Honor Society, and Latin Dance Club members teamed up to create an engaging party for any students at Riverbend who were interested in attending. 

The student-led groups combined their efforts and aimed to draw students' attention to a fascinating culture. Briceida Garcia De Leon, Vice President of the Spanish Honor Society, comments enthusiastically about the fiesta, saying, "I think it's important to spread Hispanic culture and to teach people the excitement and diverse traditions brought from different Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Spreading Hispanic culture helps people understand our origin and identity as part of a large community." 

Briceida participates in many Hispanic traditions with her family, her favorite being Quienceras, a big celebration for a girl's 15th birthday. 

On the fiesta day, the students gathered in the lecture hall after school to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month together through games, food, music, and dancing.

First, the Spanish Club played musical chairs and Lotería with the students, getting everyone in a happy and celebratory spirit. 

Though the origin of musical chairs is unknown, the game has been adopted as a typical festivity in many cultures, including that of the Hispanics. The game was played to cheerful Hispanic music, full of smiles and competitive nature.

Next was lotería, a game similar to the American game, Bingo, in which each player is given a sixteen-square grid with the task of filling in four boxes in a row first. In Lotería, Spanish words and items are in each square on the grid, like "la bota," meaning "the boot." Identical to the rules of Bingo, the items are called out individually in a random sequence, and the players must mark off the items they have. After the rounds of Bingo, a few winners were victorious, and the students moved on prepared to watch a performance by the Latin Dance Club.

The Latin Dance Club performed a merengue dance they had been preparing for weeks. The students were amazed by the dance's perfection and the dancers' in-sync movements to the music.

Next, the Latin Dance Club taught the students the basic steps of how to dance bachata, a unique Hispanic dance focusing on the steps aligning with the rhythm of the music. 

Finally, the last festivity of the fiesta was everyone's favorite: food! The Spanish Honor Society students worked on cooking up some delicious traditional Hispanic foods: Empanadas de carnes (beef empanadas) and plántano frito (fried plantain). Both foods are prominent in Hispanic culture and are eaten at many of the most popular Hispanic traditions, including Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and other annual festivals. 

Overall, the event was a meaningful way to bring the Riverbend students together and display Hispanic culture. It highlighted the unity in a diverse community when everyone gathered to celebrate a specific culture. 

"I think it impacted the Riverbend students' knowledge of Hispanic heritage and motivated them to learn more," concluded Briceida.