Afro Latino Festival Celebrates Culture
In observance of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Iowa Central Spanish Department brought culture to life on Campus Thursday with the annual Afro-Latino Festival.
Started three years ago as a small event with just a handful of participating classes, this year’s event grew to reach beyond the walls of the campus.
Andrea Estling, Spanish instructor at Iowa Central extended invitations to several local high school Spanish classes, city and state officials, and area businesses.
Estling estimated that more than 600 students, faculty and staff attended, including students from three area high schools.
The morning featured displays of Iowa Central’s students from Hispanic and African Countries, educational displays created by Spanish, Latin American History and African History classes, traditional dress and dancing, performances by four Latin music groups and food.
Spanish class students researched and created poster displays from countries of their choice while students in Latin America History classes researched and displayed projects on Hispanic currencies.
David Drissel, social sciences instructor, involved the African History classes, which include several international students representing African and Caribbean nations.
“We have a lot of students in this class who are from or whose parents immigrated from Africa or the Caribbean who are representing their own countries,” said Drissel. “It ties together because a lot of Latinos have African ancestry. Have students here from these nations really adds authenticity.”
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