The Durant School District celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month Oct. 8 with the theme of, “Remembering our roots, honoring our heritage.”
The event was held at the Durant Schools Professional and Development Center on Waco Street with the purpose of appreciating and celebrating the rich cultures of the Hispanic/Latino community.
People speaking in English and Hispanic said, “Even though we are very different in many things, there’s a lot of things that unite us, like the values of family, community, hard work, parties and food. We’re here to celebrate everything that unites us.”
“Amazing Grace” was performed by The Garcias and food representing the taste of the Hispanic/Latino culture was served.
Mark Moring, superintendent of Durant Schools, thanked everyone who attended.
The school district has monthly meetings for the Hispanic population and this was the first meeting that food from the different cultures represented was served.
Moring asked everyone to raise their hands if they were at last month’s meeting.
“Wow, this is what food does when we bring food to our meeting,” Moring said. “Seriously, we need to expand this. This is amazing how many people we have here. We need to find a bigger space now and that is a fantastic problem to have. Like I said at the last meeting, if you know somebody that’s not here, get them here.
“I appreciate you guys very much. Thank you for being here and please show up, please come more.”
Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. It began as a week-long celebration in 1968 under President Lyndon Johnson and in 1988, it was expanded to a month by President Ronald Reagan.
There are 21 countries that have Spanish as their official language.
Puerto Rico was among places represented at the Durant School District’s Hispanic Celebration.
