Christin Cossman
Suffield High School Spanish students are pictured with the traditional guacamole, salsa fresca, and other dishes they made with Ms. Cossman for the Hispanic Heritage week celebration in mid-October.
It has become an October tradition at Suffield High School to celebrate the heritage of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States. This national celebration highlights the historical and cultural contributions of Americans who trace their ancestry to Spain, Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
According to the Library of Congress and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics constitute almost 20 percent of the nation’s total population today. At the current rate, Hispanics will constitute 31 percent of the population, or 128.8 million people, by 2060. People of Mexican descent account for the largest sector of Hispanics in the United States, and only Mexico has a larger Hispanic population than the United States.
Students at the high school had an opportunity to discover these and other facts during a week-long celebration of Hispanic cultures. The Morning Update team, under the direction of film and French teacher Carl Casinghino, prepared daily video segments for information and enjoyment of the high school community, including Caelie Flanagan and Cammy Gallagher singing a cappella in Spanish. Another highlight of the morning show was when students heard about Caelie’s exceptional opportunity to travel to Ecuador this past summer and take part in an exchange program sponsored by the Sociedad Honorario Hispanica.
On October 12 and 13 students explored the culinary arts and Hispanic Foods with Cris Cossman in two after-school cooking classes. Ms. Cossman developed this program so that students could work on recipes ranging from savory to sweet. They prepared a traditional guacamole and salsa fresca, street-style tacos, tres leches cake and fresh churros with Mexican hot chocolate. Students were ecstatic about the results and appreciative of this opportunity to develop culinary skills and cultural aptitude.
Additionally, the students in Spanish classes created an interesting display of various cultural topics in the context of social networking websites. They used Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other platforms to reflect on the rich history of Hispanic culture in the United States.
We thank the members of the World Language Honor Society under the direction of Mrs. Kruk, the Morning Update team and all students and teachers of Spanish who made this celebration such a successful one.