Heritage Month Recap | Hispanic Heritage Month

At YWA, Each month we will celebrate a different heritage connecting our community to the great communities around us. Hispanic Heritage Month spans from September 15th to October 15th each year. This year, we had features in our library, curriculum and homerooms.

Our Librarian and Nest Lead Instructor, Valerie Schlagel, creates a library feature of different authors highlighting different books featuring Hispanic main characters such as Zorro by Isabel Allende, Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling and …And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold. Also, with a main feature of Nuestra América: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States by Sabrina Vourvoulias. It is a great vibrant book that students can pick up and read through during breaks. Not to mention the great graphic display featuring great Latinos:

  • Ellen Ochoa

  • Luis Walter Alverez

  • Sandra Cisneros

  • Lin-Manuel Miranda

  • Sonia Sotomayor

  • Sylvia Mendez

  • Rita Moreno

  • Cesar Chavez

  • Laurie Hernandez

  • And more

Carol Schuster has a yearly project in her group American History classes to represent the Columbian Exchange. This year, there were three students in the class and each student took a different area: the Americas, Europe, and Africa/Asia to bring food from. From there, they created a delicious meal from the contributions and debriefed about what we learned about the pros and cons of the interaction between these parts of the world. 

Sarah Garcia, our Social and Emotional Learning Coordinator, found great resources to share during Homeroom. Click here to read.

On November 1st and 2nd, YWA held homeroom activities centered around Día de los Muertos. Students were provided information about this meaningful tradition and two different ways to participate: One being a video and the other being an activity. 

Each year our heritage months highlight and celebrate different cultures and backgrounds, support skills such as perspective taking and personal growth. In the next coming months we will celebrate: 

  • October - Hispanic Heritage Month (cont.), Cultural Diversity Month

  • November - Native American Heritage Month

  • February - Black History Month

  • March - Women's History Month, Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

  • April - Autism Acceptance Month, Holocaust Rememberance Month

  • May - Asian American and South Pacific Heritage Month

  • June - LGBTQ+ Pride Month

 We also encourage and accept support from our community, you, to help guide us in how we can best support, empower and stand with communities. For ways to engage with us, please email Jed Miley, Executive Director, jedm@yellowwoodacademy.org, to get the conversation started. 

Shannon Kennedy