Cronkite student organizations team up to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Nicole Macias, sophomore studying journalism and a member of the Walter Cronkite College Council.

Hispanic Heritage Month made its way downtown as the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism’s College Council and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists collaborated to create a unique event celebrating Hispanic and Latinx journalism students at ASU. 

The event, presented Oct. 5, in the Cronkite building, featured food, music and an upbeat atmosphere for Hispanic and Latinx journalism students to truly appreciate and discuss how important their culture is to them.

The event was proposed by Nicole Macias, a sophomore journalism major with the Cronkite School.

“I’m from Mexico, so I’m really proud of my heritage, my culture, my traditions,” Macias said “It’s been kind of hard not living there and I kind of feel like a stranger here because I moved last year. I wanted to do something to celebrate it.”

To launch the month-long celebration, Macias said she hosted a small party for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 15. The experience inspired her to consider what else she could do to celebrate and help raise awareness among her peers at ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus. 

Macias said she could find only one Cronkite event featuring a Hispanic speaker being presented in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Her next step was to pitch a joint event to the  WCCC. 

“We are an event committee,” Macias said. “I just wanted to create this environment where people can feel proud of their ancestors and their families, and in some cases, their country of origin.”

The event is particularly exciting to other Hispanic and Latinx students at Cronkite, who feel a similar lack of downtown celebrations during Hispanic Heritage Month. 

For Gabriela Reynaga-Iniguez, being a part of NAHJ and celebrating her heritage has been a huge positive for her college experience.

“It means being with people who are like you, who have succeeded in roles you wouldn’t imagine Hispanics to be in. [It’s] a family, a community, and a network opportunity, honestly,” Reynaga-Iniguez said.

As a member of NAHJ, Reynaga-Iniguez has seen her community improve the experience of her classmates as well. She does her best to introduce the association to the individuals she believes will benefit from it. 

“[I] let people know that we’re here … especially first gens, it’s hard,” she said. “Having people you can build friends with, it’s great.”

Reynaga-Iniguez believes that the collaboration between NAHJ and WCCC to create the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration is a huge step towards improving the Hispanic and Latinx community representation downtown. She has high hopes for future events being held at Cronkite.

“This is awesome, especially during Hispanic Heritage Month,” Reynaga-Iniguez said. “This is a thing we should probably keep doing at Cronkite.”