[media-credit id=1 align=”alignnone” width=”400″][/media-credit]By Patrick Loera

San Jose City College will celebrate Latino Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

“There are a list of events being planned to help make the event informative and inspiring for the student body,” said Fabio Gonzalez, a counselor in Extended Opportunities Program & Services and chairman of the Latino Education Association.

“We plan on having an opening ceremony on the 15th,” Gonzalez said. “There will also be a number of events taking place on campus to express the rich Latino diversity here on campus — historical film viewings, cultural music, dancers and a lot of food,” Gonzalez said.

What is Latino Heritage Month?

Jesus Covarrubias, a Chicano Studies instructor at SJCC, explained why Sept. 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration.

“In addition to Mexico, Chile and Belize, it is the anniversary of the 1821 independence in five Latin America countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua,” Covarrubias said.

Covarrubias and Gonzalez agreed that the theme of the event at SJCC is inspiration through cultural expression.

“The main purpose for putting this event together is to acknowledge the Latino population on campus, and the contribution they have made as students and instructors,” Covarrubias said.