Hartford elementary students celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Sept. 15 marked the start of Hispanic Heritage Month which celebrates Hispanic culture, history and achievements.

On Monday, students at the Naylor School in Hartford came together to celebrate with an Olympic-themed pep rally.

“This is just to get everyone excited and remind them why they need to come to school everyday,” principal Alesia Ettson said. “And celebrate our very diverse culture that we have here.”

Ettson estimates that 50 to 75% of her 400 students come from Hispanic backgrounds.

“I hope that they get the excitement for their culture,” bilingual resource teacher Jackie Ithier said. “They go home and they can talk to mommy and daddy to learn more about their culture.”

Arlyanis Toro is one of those students. Toro is Puerto Rican and said she enjoys the food.

“The Spanish people finally get to be noticed and get to be loved for who they are,” she said. “It’s important for all Spanish, because some Spanish people get bullied because they talk another language.”

Others like Francine Eto aren’t Hispanic, but are eager to learn.

“I’m very excited, I’m very excited,” said Eto, who is Tanzanian. “They speak different languages, different skin color and also different hairstyles.”

She said she looks forward to learning Spanish in the future.