Since 1988, the U.S. has celebrated Latine Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 every year. This year at Tamalpais High School, the students who run the outreach committee in the leadership class collaborated with the Latine Student Unity Club to host multiple events throughout the month and celebrate Latine culture.

These events included a loteria (lottery) on Oct. 5, a Latine Heritage movie night on Oct. 6, a button-making event on Oct. 11, and finally, a mercado hosted on Oct. 13. 

The loteria was a lunch event that took place at Tam’s Student Center. It was essentially a game of bingo where students could play and win prizes. The movie night showed the movie Coco, a movie about a Mexican boy and his family, representing Latine culture and traditions. The button-making event was an event to bring students together and celebrate Latine culture by making buttons and collages. The final event of the month was the mercado, which served free food from three local restaurants: Luna de Xelaju, Cochinita, and Lucinda’s Mexican Food To Go. 

“I think it [the mercado] lets other students experience the food and music and learn about the culture. I think it is also a great way to bring students from different backgrounds together,” senior and leadership member Grace Porter said. 

Tam’s leadership class has been working hard figuring out budgeting, communicating with the Latine Student Unity Club, and trying to get students excited and participating in these events. 

“A big part of organizing these events is getting vendors approved. We have to do all of these events through a club, so we partnered with the Latinos Unidos club and they basically sent us a list of vendors that they wanted us to use and we picked three. We had to get those approved by getting paperwork filled out, which took a while,” senior and head of the outreach committee Gabby Hoebrichts said. 

There were students of all different grades, races, and backgrounds at these events and many students thought it was a good way for the school to come together, especially after there had been some recent issues regarding race within the Tam community. 

“Especially in a primarily white school, it is important to celebrate other cultures. I think it is a really powerful thing and I think it shows other students that might be from minorities that they are important and included,” sophomore Dexter Burnett said. 

Last year, graduated senior Ella Clark, created an additional committee in Leadership, called the outreach committee, to connect with different clubs and help them plan heritage months, using some of Leadership’s funding and other resources.

This year, the activism committee combined with the outreach committee to plan the events for Latine Heritage Month. Hoebrichts worked with the head of the activism committee, Jordan Harrosh, and worked closely with the Latinos Unidos Club. 

“We have Latine Heritage Month events to celebrate culture here at Tam because I feel like that is a big part of inclusivity and having such a diverse school, we need to celebrate everyone’s different cultures,” Hoebrichts said. 

The goal was really to get students engaged and participating, and wanting to learn something new instead of just going for the prizes or the free food. 

“Latine Heritage Month and the events that leadership hosts are a great way to help show the diversity and unity here at Tam. Students get to experience unique traditions and foods, and have fun learning about a new culture,” senior Zadie Foskett said.

Are you a member of the Latine Student Unity Club or the Latinos Unidos Club? Reach out to one of our reporters so we can include your voice! Email our adviser [email protected] to make the connection, or message us on our Instagram page (link at the top).