AACC is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 with art exhibitions, a cooking demonstration and a dance class.

The campus kicked off the month-long celebration with a Sept. 27 showing of portraits by mixed-media artist Glory Paredes of El Salvador, featuring remarks from the artist.

Hispanic students said it’s important for the college to acknowledge the month.

“I think it’s important for Hispanic Heritage Month to be celebrated so other people are able to learn about different cultures, colors and food,” second-year nursing student Maryuri Ramos, who is from Honduras, said. “I think it makes me feel more welcomed. … “I think it’s very welcoming for people to attend AACC because of this upcoming celebration.”

The college began celebrating the month in 2008, when Hispanic students made up approximately 2% of the campus enrollment despite a larger proportion of Latinos in Anne Arundel County, Wilfredo Valladares Lara, this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month chair, said.“This significant representation gap inspired me to propose the first [Hispanic Heritage Month] celebration at the college.”

First-year psychology student Mia Alvarez-Santiago, who is from Florida, but her parents are from Puerto Rican and Cuban, Heritage Heritage Month is a way for other Hispanic students to connect with one another.

“I feel like it’s nice to know that there’s other people like me around and that the college is able to put a name and title, and like a day for those students to get together and get to know each other,” Alvarez-Santiago said.

Here is a list of Hispanic Heritage Month events on campus.