This year, Montana State University celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month for the first time. On Wednesday, students gathered to talk about issues facing the Hispanic community on campus and in the Gallatin Valley.
“Having it as our first official celebration,” said MSU Senior Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Ariel Donohue.
According to a diversity report, in the 2021-2022 school year, there are just under 900 Hispanic students at MSU. They make up about 5% of the total student population.
As part of the celebration, students gathered to hear from a panel about issues facing the Hispanic community. The main topic was language barriers in education.
“We really learned what resources are out there and how willing people are to address these challenging issues in the community,” said Donohue.
MSU Student Vanessa Zamora-Moreno began her own business last summer teaching Spanish speakers English.
“I now teach for English Para Todos. It started last summer,” said Zamora-Moreno
Her personal experience is what inspired her to start her business so that others wouldn’t have the same fear.
"It brought me back six years ago when I was sitting in a classroom desperate for learning and feeling alone and scared,” said Zamora-Moreno.
Zamora-Moreno does all of this while she is finishing her business and phycology degrees, but she says does it for more than just herself.
“I felt the call to give back and that has been a challenge with full-time school,”
She says seeing her fellow bobcats come out to learn is a reward.
“There’s so many people interested in actually learning how to support us and I think we’re all noticing that its growing so much,” says Zamora- Moreno.
Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end on October 15, but MSU will host a dance night event on October 24.
