Hispanic Heritage Month is a four week celebration of the cultures, histories, and contributions of American individuals whose ancestors are from Latin America countries. This national holiday is celebrated on September 15, ending on October 15.
Unfortunately, Hispanic Heritage isn’t widely known nor celebrated in the United States. It’s mainly known in Latin American countries. Schools in the United States have been celebrating this month ever since it became a national holiday on September 14, 1989.
It is more common for public schools to celebrate this holiday because public schools tend to have more diverse student bodies than private schools. Private schools tend to be less diverse due to a lack of state mandated accommodations for students and unaffordable tuition costs. I feel that both public and private schools should celebrate hispanic heritage month regardless of their student diversity.
One way to measure student diversity is by taking into account the diversity score. According to Publicschoolreview.com, a diversity score is “the chance that two students selected at random would be members of a different ethnic group.” The diversity score ranges from 0-1 and the closer it is to 1, the more diverse the student body is. For example, Northview High School’s diversity score is 0.38.
Below are two pie charts explaining the statistics of the ethnic diversity scores. On the left are the percentages for Northview High School and on the right is the state average. Northview falls below average for the state of Michigan but the school still has strong diversity in its student body.
Last year in 2020, the Hispanic festival downtown Grand Rapids was cancelled due to COVID guidelines. Fortunately, the 2021 festival took place August 6th-8th. The festival included dancing, food, festivities, and music. We’re hoping August 2022 will have another Hispanic Festival in Downtown Grand Rapids.
Next year, Northview should be more aware of this celebration and realize the importance due to its diverse student population.
