On Sept. 20, 2023, students of Moorpark College celebrated the beginning of Latinx Heritage Month with a dynamic Kick-off Event in the upper-campus quad.
With a focus on uplifting the contributions, cultures and history of Latinx individuals, students observed traditional musical performances, visited food stations, received themed t-shirts and explored information booths with on-campus resources.
As a featured speaker at the event, Moorpark College President Julius Sokenu shared the importance of celebrating Latinx Heritage Month throughout campus spaces.
“It’s so important to honor Latinx Heritage Month because we have our students, staff, faculty and administrators whose heritage is from the Latinx and the Hispanic communities,” Sokenu said. “It’s our way of paying homage and recognizing the contributions of the communities, the cultures and the traditions that our students, our faculty and staff come from.”
The event took over four months to plan, as was in full collaboration with several Moorpark College student organizations including Extended Opportunity Programs and Services, MC Colegas and Latinx Club. Sokenu was pleased with the event’s outcome after witnessing students’ eagerness to visit these programs.
“Honoring diversity that exists within our campus community enriches us and makes us better as an institution,” Sokenu noted. “It challenges us to serve all our students in meaningful ways; so to see EOPS and Latinx Club out here, and students going to see and speak with them and get information about what they offer and who they are, it just warms my heart.”
Volunteers from EOPS and additional campus resources operated several booths catered to students in the quad. Marisol Jimenez, a second-year student worker and peer mentor at EOPS, offered free churros and spoke to students about MC Colegas as the program’s student ambassador.
“MC Colegas usually collaborates not only with ASMC but the Latinx Club,” Jimenez said. “We are here to bring awareness and to bring power not only to all Latinos, but Chicano culture.”
Students were also welcome to purchase items from local Latinx-owned businesses, such as Chingona Vida, a Latina-owned lifestyle brand from Los Angeles. Elisa Valdez, owner and graphic designer of the brand, explained the process of refining her company’s empowering message over the past two years and the importance of promoting her mission to students.
“Chingona Vida is everything representing me and the story of my family and how I grew up,” Valdez explained. “I take my memories and I spin it into my own thing. I think it’s really important to talk to students and be able to give them an inspiration because this is my dream.”
The outdoor stage hosted a variety of Latinx performances for students to watch, including Francisco Navarro, a musician and custodian who works for maintenance operations at Moorpark College. Navarro took to the campus stage for the first time, showcasing his trio’s cumbias and boleros.
Even though the trio performs mainly boleros, slow danceable love songs, Navarro broke the ice by mixing various cumbias and other beats. Navarro explained the mix of different beats they showcased for people to get up and dance.
“We started playing cumbias and then some romantic music as boleros, and then some, like, ranchero music, like Vicente Fernandez,” Navarro explained. “People get bored if you just listen to romantic music, so we just try to get in and make everybody dance and have fun.”
While Navarro has been singing since age 15, this event was the first time he performed for colleagues and students at Moorpark College after working for the school for 13 years.
“I’ve been singing a lot and started singing traditionally in my church, and then I started meeting people that know more musicians and then making a band,” Navarro shared. “We just get into [performing] everybody knows what they’re doing and how they play. So pretty much we’re just getting together and making music awesome.”
Moorpark College will continue honoring Latinx Heritage Month with several events until mid-October. The second annual “MC Fiesta” is also in the works for next March, with the Associated Students of Moorpark College, Latinx Club and MC Colegas spearheading the celebration.
For more information on Moorpark College’s ongoing Latinx Heritage Month events, click here.
