Cosumnes River College kicked off its celebration of Latinx Heritage Month on Tuesday by bringing students and faculty together to honor community, history, culture and art.

The celebration started off with speeches from multiple Latinx student support members from CRC’s Multicultural Innovative Community for Academic Success and Achievement center.

The MI CASA center director, Melissa Sanchez, said she was satisfied with the event and that bringing the community together to celebrate Latinx heritage is important.

“We want to show students that within their college there’s representation, a place where they feel seen, represented and heard,” Sanchez said. “We want to make sure that they’re always comfortable and can access anyone for support.”

Brian Cabrera, a 19-year-old psychology major who attended the event, said he believes celebrating diversity is important.

“I don’t want to be around the same people 24/7, I want to meet people from different backgrounds and ethnicities,” Cabrera said.

Sanchez said that a variety of students and professors attended the event, with some professors even bringing out their classes.

“For us it’s exciting to see professors excited about the events too,” Sanchez said.

The event concluded in the MI CASA center where students got to enjoy art made by fellow CRC students and enjoy snacks including mangonadas and fresas con crema.

Student support specialist Bernadette Velazquez said she was impressed by the student art submissions.

“The submissions given to us, left us with our jaws on the floor,” Velasquez said. “Knowing we were able to give a space to showcase that talent is very nice to see.”

Latinx Heritage Month will be celebrated at CRC until Oct. 15, with events including a cultural film watch party, social gatherings and opportunities for students to connect through honoring culture and creativity.

More information about these events can be found on CRC’s website under the campus life tab, in the Calendar and Events section.