The Student Activities Board (SAB) and Hermana y Hermano registered student organizations at Arkansas State University, in concert with the A-State Multicultural Center, came together to host the traditional El Grito event Thursday at the Reng Student Union in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. 

The first of two events being hosted by the SAB for Hispanic Heritage Month, El Grito lit up the university campus, with a cultural plate painting activity for attendees to participate in and authentic Mexican street tacos on the menu for the night.

Latino music echoed off the union walls as students decorated their pottery. Emilia Gómez López, a senior biotechnology major from Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico, said the event reminded her of her hometown. 

“As a Mexican, [El Grito] is, you know, like part of Mexico, here in the States, in a country where I have no one. So just being able to celebrate part of my heritage brings me a lot of joy,” Gómez López said.

The planning of the El Grito event took weeks of collaboration from several student organizations. The organizations said they aimed to create a safe and inviting space for the Hispanic community at A-State. 

A’Kirah Ester, a sophomore nursing major from Conway and SAB event director for El Grito, said one goal of the event was to show support for diversity at A-State

“It’s a way to let the students know that their school does support their culture, that they’re not alone in a more dominant, race school, like a predominantly white institution,” Ester said. “My goal was to be able to have a cultural event specific to their cultural issues, a way to include everybody on campus and especially that specific culture.”

The name of the event, El Grito, also represents a symbol of heritage for many Mexican students at A-State. The Mexican “grito” commemorates the country’s “cry for independence” and is a yearly ceremony held in the capital of Mexico City, dating back to the start of the Mexican War of Independence on Sept. 16, 1810. 

The cry for independence echoes worldwide for many Mexicans. Amber Cisneros, a senior animal science major from Hope, Arkansas, said El Grito is a long-standing tradition in her family that she is continuing at A-State.

“Every year, we celebrate Mexico Independence Day, and in Mexico, they do El Grito. And we, my family, always watch it on YouTube. So every year, we stay up at midnight and we watch El Grito, and we do El Grito from our house,” Cisneros said. “Then, this semester, we did El Grito in our dorms, so we all got together and watched the Mexican Independence livestream.”

Henrry Perez, a sophomore marketing major from Judsonia, Arkansas, and affiliate with the Hermana y Hermano organization, said he appreciated the A-State community for supporting the event.

“Being able to host an event like this with SAB and the Multicultural Center really delights me, just knowing that people are willing to come out, that they’re willing to get to spend time with us and learn a little bit more about the Hispanic culture, and just actually put in the same effort that we’re putting in with hosting this event,” Perez said.

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