Last week, as students hurried to get to their classes before they were marked tardy, they were serenaded by the sound of Spanish lyrics, part of CESJDS’ celebration of Hispanic Week.

The goal of Hispanic Week, which was Oct. 19-23, is to acknowledge the cultural contributions that the Hispanic community has brought to the United States.

To celebrate these contributions, different kinds of programming were offered both in and out of classes.

According to Spanish teacher Deby Kijak, there are many different aspects to the week’s celebration. Besides the bell music, the cafeteria staff cooked special lunches and decorated the room with Latin American countries’ flags, and Spanish classes did special activities, among other things.

Hispanic Week at JDS was last week because October is National Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, “paying tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society,” according to the Library of Congress’ website.  

JDS has a handful of students with Hispanic roots, and the week offers a chance to celebrate their culture.

“We want to showcase the diversity that there is in the school,” Kijak said.

Referring to students who have Hispanic and Latino heritage, Kijak said that it is important to “make sure they feel that their own heritage is celebrated.”

Senior Jacobo Ostroff, whose mother is from Puerto Rico, appreciates that JDS has Hispanic Week and enjoys the bell music and the lunches. However, he believes that the school could be celebrating more than just culture.

“Beyond the food in the cafeteria, I think we could make a little more effort to teach about Latino individuals,” Ostroff said.

Ostroff also said that he would appreciate more activities focused on current events pertaining to Hispanic individuals, especially given the current climate of debate about immigration and Hispanic immigrants’ roles in America’s future.

Sophomore Nicolas Escobar, whose paternal grandparents are Cuban, appreciates what JDS Hispanic Week brings to the table in its exposing students to Hispanic culture.

“I am not personally very involved in my Hispanic origins, but I think it’s very interesting to learn about … Hispanic writers and poets,” Escobar said.

Escobar, who does not take Spanish, was always jealous of his sister who got to learn about Hispanic literature in her Spanish classes.

Ostroff agreed, and added that Jewish history classes could do more to teach about Sephardic Jews, and that general history classes could teach more about the histories of Hispanic countries.        

Kijak hopes that during Hispanic Week, some of these topics become prevalent for the JDS community.

“The most important thing is to showcase the diversity, and understand that we all come from different backgrounds and different ancestors,” Kijak said. “We have to make sure that we all celebrate that and understand that we all are different. That makes us special and we have to celebrate that.”