NWC News Desk

NWC celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with full slate of events

Posted September 8, 2016
By NWC News Desk

POWELL, Wyoming — Northwest College will kick off its celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) with a Mexican Independence Day Celebration Wednesday, Sept. 14, at the NWC Intercultural House. Later events focus on Peru, creating folk art flags, Cuba and Hispanic definitions. 

The 3 p.m. Mexican Independence Day celebration includes readings on the history and traditions of the holiday, raising the Mexican flag and singing its national anthem. The event is topped off with traditional Mexican refreshments.

NWC Associate Professor of Anthropology Greg Smith will present a program on Peru Friday, Sept. 23, through the experience of his field studies class that traveled there in May to explore pre-Columbian civilizations such as the Inka. Smith’s talk begins at 3 p.m. in the Intercultural House.

The NWC Office of Intercultural Programs will team up with the Powell MakerSpace to introduce a Friday, Sept. 30, class in designing and creating papel picado, the name given to folk art flags created out of tissue paper by crafters in Mexico. Frequently seen as decorations at parties and religious ceremonies, the flags often include floral, bird and skeleton designs.

Participants will begin at 4 p.m. learning to use a vinyl cutter and scrapbooking materials at the Powell MakerSpace. The party moves to the Intercultural House at 6 p.m. so everyone can display their flags and enjoy nachos.

NWC’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month will continue in October with a Monday, Oct. 3, presentation on Cuba by University of Wyoming Extension Community Development Educator Tara Kiupers and a Thursday, Oct. 13, program that answers the question “Hispanic: What Does it Mean?”

For more information about these and other intercultural activities, follow the “See the full calendar” link in the Upcoming Event box at http://nwc.edu/international.

All events are sponsored by NWC Intercultural Programs and are free to the public.