Attendees of the 2025 Hispanic Heritage Festival stand in the Clarke Central High School bus loop on Sept. 30. CCHS science department teacher Enya Granados was at the celebration and found it to be a good experience. “(I came) because I am Hispanic, and it felt important for me to be here and be with my community. The second (reason I came) is to come and support my students who are having various booths or things like that. Getting to meet with them and their families feels pretty important to me (as well as) getting to cheer on and support the amazing artists that are here,” Granados said. Photo by Miriam Silk
CCHS held its annual Hispanic Heritage Festival on Sept. 30 from 5 to 7 p.m., which included numerous displays of Hispanic culture through performances and interactive booths.
The Clarke Central High School Tri-M Music Honor Society, in collaboration with the CCHS Spanish Book and Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPe) Clubs, hosted the annual Hispanic Heritage Festival on Sept. 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the CCHS bus loop.
The event, which was held for the first time during the 2023-24 school year, included various displays of Hispanic culture and was open to all CCHS students and faculty, as well as Athens community members.
Clarke Central High School Tri-M Music Honor Society President Julissa Zúñiga, a senior, speaks to attendees of the CCHS Hispanic Heritage Festival in the CCHS bus loop on Sept. 30. Zúñiga organized the event alongside the Spanish Book and Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPe) Clubs. “I went to one of the HoPe meetings, and I was like, ‘There’s such a great community here.’ So, I was like, ‘I really want to collaborate with them. That’d be a great help to do this (event),’” Zúñiga said. Photo by Miriam Silk
“(The festival) began completely at the behest of the students. I had always wondered why we didn’t have one at (CCHS and), the kids said, ‘Well, let’s just do one,’” CCHS Tri-M advisor Dr. Eunice Kang said. “So, that was the first one, and ever since then, it’s gotten bigger and bigger.”
The festival began with performances from the CCHS Chamber Strings Orchestra and a makeshift reggaeton band composed of CCHS senior Andres Nava, sophomore Jesus Diaz and junior Xavier Reyes. Afterwards, representatives from the University of Georgia Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute took the stage to teach the audience different Latin dance forms, like salsa and merengue.
Additionally, members of Tri-M, Spanish Book Club and HoPe were invited to showcase their heritage by setting up booths centered around different Central and South American countries.
“Some (booths) have an activity, like a game, or some have food. We have never done (that) before, (and) I think it’s a really cool aspect (of the festival),” CCHS Tri-M President Julissa Zúñiga, a senior, said. “We want to teach (attendees) more about those countries and that’s the whole reason why we’re here: to celebrate them.”
CCHS and Athens community members attend the 2025 Hispanic Heritage Festival in the CCHS bus loop on Sept. 30. The event incorporated multiple displays of different Central and South American cultures. “I think what I’m enjoying the most (is) that, this year, there are tables representing (individual) countries, and they have a little snack or something to kind of represent (the country) that people can take,” CCHS science department teacher Enya Granados, who attended the event, said. Photos by Iliana Tejada and Miriam Silk
CCHS science department teacher Enya Granados has attended the Hispanic Heritage for the past three years and believes that celebrations like it are important.
“(The festival) helps me and people from my community feel a little bit more seen, like that we belong here, we can take up space and we can be prideful in showing off our culture,” Granados said. “I hope that the community can come out and feel comfortable (at CCHS), and that they can meet with teachers and other people and find community resources that they might need that they didn’t know that they had.”
“(The festival) helps me and people from my community feel a little bit more seen, like that we belong here, we can take up space and we can be prideful in showing off our culture.”
— Enya Granados,
CCHS science department teacher
