September’s Hispanic Heritage Month gave Morton West a great opportunity to celebrate and honor the culture and contributions of Hispanics not only to our country, but to humanity as well. For the very first time, the Morton West library organized a series of activities and presented materials available such as books about Latino culture, books written in Spanish, and even Latino themed poetry. The purpose of this activity is to let the Morton family learn about the differences, but most important, about the similarities between all different cultures.

Morton students were able to participate in the “Loteria del Libro” challenge from September 17 to October 31. Students were directed to choose an item from the list of materials selected for Hispanic Heritage Month; a biography, a novel, an article, poetry, a Latino author, a Latino themed book, a graphic novel, a children’s book, or an art activity of the students’ choice. After the students completed their task, they would complete a form by describing the reading or activity they chose and special prizes would be awarded.

Ms. Sonia Ocasio-Bowmen, head librarian said, “We even had some classes come in and I put aside a fun project for them to have the opportunity to look up Hispanic Heroes. We put aside coloring pages with famous quotes for each one of them. One of my favorites would be “At the end of the day we can endure much more than we think we  can” by Frida Kahlo.” Students were given the opportunity to get to know some important Hispanic figures through their quotes,  relating to their career, their struggles, or their achievements during their lifetime.

Students were given fun little prizes such as Mexican candy, book marks, cards, pencils, tattoos, and stickers in order to persuade other students into participating in the activity.

Ms. Kyle Fitzmyer’s Freshman English classes got a big prize, since after reading the play “In The Heights ” they all got to see the play on Thursday November 8th. “They absolutely loved it.” said  Fitzmyer. “A lot of our student population is Hispanic and it’s nice to see yourself in something, in what you read or in what you listen to.” Fitzmyer added. The play,” In The Heights” tells a story of a community in New York’s Washington Heights Latino neighborhood, whose inhabitants biggest struggles are deciding which traditions they take with them and which ones they leave behind.

Another example of the books which could be read in the challenge was “La Gringa” by Carmen Rivera, and it’s one of  Ocasio-Bowman’s favorites. La Gringa is about an American-Puerto Rican young lady, Maria Elena who visits Puerto Rico and for the first time she meets her family there. Sadly, Maria Elena soon realizes that she is not completely accepted by them, and she is known as “La Gringa”. She struggles with the idea that  she is Puerto Rican in the United States and American in Puerto Rico. “Basically it’s about the search for your identity and what it feels like to be caught in between both worlds” said Ocasio.

Since it was the first time that Hispanic Heritage challenge was carried out, there wasn’t much participation among the students. Students basically came into the library and checked out a lot of the books from the carts but didn’t participate in the whole Loteria del Libro activity.

Anthony Radogno “19, didn’t participate in the challenge because he was “unaware of if” as well as many other of the students of Morton West. “After learning what the challenge is, I do regret not participating on it. I think it’s important for Morton students to read about Latino culture because for most of us it’s a part of who we are. It’s things that relate and define our heritage and culture and we should understand and learn about it.” said Radogno.

However, Ocasio-Bowmen indicated the Hispanic Heritage Reading Challenge is an ongoing thing, and it is also a challenge for the library to make materials more available and to promote them more. “Even though Hispanic Heritage Month is over, we will continue to promote these books and all the resources with classes. We are definitely going to continue to promote what we have and to purchase more materials” Ocasio-Bowman said.

The links  show the collection of all Hispanic Heritage resources accessible for everyone in Morton. There’s even a Children’s collection for Morton preschool kids with bilingual books that they can check out and share with their family members. Hispanic Heritage is available for everyone at Morton! “What was fun to watch was that some of the staff members came and not just students, but we had teacher’s aids and clerical staff coming in and checking out books out from our collection” said Ocasio-Bowman.

A way to open yourself to the wonders of the Latino culture is by checking out the beautiful Latino themed literature that the library has for the Morton Community, with all the colors, sizes, and dialects.

Check out Hispanic Heritage Collection-https://collections.follettsoftware.com/collection/5b8e949884b7130011dcb0ad

Check Out Children’s Collection-https://collections.follettsoftware.com/collection/5ba115c3fb31a800109cce10