Baylor Student Organizations Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

by Lillyan Baker, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
Baylor University is celebrating Latino culture with several activities on campus during Hispanic Heritage Month, which is sponsored by the Hispanic Student Association (HSA) and other student organizations.
Baylor's celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month includes the HSA canned food drive benefiting Avance Waco, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young families break the cycle of poverty. Students may drop off their donations until Tuesday, Oct. 21, in boxes located at various places on the Baylor campus, including Baylor Sciences Building, Panhellenic Building and the Bill Daniel Student Center (SUB).

Hispanic Heritage Month will conclude with the annual banquet featuring keynote speaker Ruben Navarette Jr., a nationally-syndicated columnist. Navarette will present his lecture, "Take a Risk, Live your Dream," at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the Barfield Drawing room of the SUB on the Baylor campus.
Navarette, a graduate of Harvard College, published A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of Harvard Chicano, which describes his experience as one of fewer than 500 Hispanic students to graduate from Harvard. He is a frequent columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and the Albuquerque Journal.
The cost for the banquet is $10 for HSA members and $15 for non-member students, faculty and staff. Tickets are available now at the ticket office in the SUB.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford originally declared Hispanic Heritage Month as Hispanic Heritage Week to teach Americans about the positive implementations Latino-Americans had on the United States. In 1989, Hispanic Heritage Week grew, expanding to a full month of cultural activities.
For more information on Hispanic Heritage Month, contact the office of student activities at 710-2371.