Wednesday, October 4, the Spanish National Honor Society hosted a panel of 6 Latino PR students for Hispanic Heritage Month. With there being a large amount of support from people in the audience these 6 students–Nicole Mireles, Sherlynn and Angy Aguilar, Leslie Perez, Nathaly Alvarez, and Francesco Garcia–told stories about how either they or their families came to the US and some of the hardships they had to face. 

Some of them knew they had to learn English as a second language in order to fit in at a really young age but listening and talking really helped them. Some of the students shared how their parents learned English by observing their surroundings, watching movies, and practicing. One student talked about how the process of getting a Visa is not easy. 

They then shifted and explained how a few struggles for them are expressing themselves in both English and Spanish. It’s easy to get twisted when you know more than one language. 

After they talked about language barriers, one student talked about a big tradition of Hispanic heritage: a quinceañera. She explained how even though it’s a long and tiring process that is started practically from the day that a girl is born, it’s a very special moment to celebrate a young woman coming into her own and celebrating with her family. 

Toward the end of the panel, they gave some advice for future Latino PR students: joining clubs and sports at school or even in the community really pushes you to interact with others and to form relationships with people who aren’t of the same background as you. 

They also talked about the importance of finding an inner circle of friends who have the same or similar backgrounds.  When it comes to being a different race there are a lot of struggles, but if you’re able to find other people with the same cultural background as you and can relate to you, it can really help take away some of that pressure of feeling out of place.