{"id":16892,"date":"2026-09-18T08:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=16892"},"modified":"2026-09-18T08:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:11:08","slug":"spanish-club-invites-morningside-students-to-celebrate-latino-heritage-in-siouxland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/16892","title":{"rendered":"Spanish Club Invites Morningside Students to Celebrate Latino Heritage in Siouxland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brayan Ramos – <\/em><\/strong>As September continues, the Siouxland community will have an opportunity to celebrate Latino heritage through a series of events connecting students, families, and community members\u00a0 through culture and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The celebration began Wednesday, September 9, with the Spanish Club\u2019s Spanish Film Festival at the UPS Auditorium at the Lincoln Center. The event featured the film Artificial Justice<\/em>. The Spanish language film, shown with English subtitles, follows Carmen Costa, a judge in Spain who is asked to help evaluate an artificial intelligence system designed to replace judges. As she investigates the system, she begins to uncover a larger conspiracy involving the country\u2019s justice system. The 98-minute film explores questions about technology, power, and the importance of human judgment. Criminal Justice professors Mitzie Forrest and Michael Elbert also participated in a discussion connected to the showing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish Club will continue Friday, September 18, with the Celebrando Siouxland<\/em> Parade from 5 to 7 p.m. Morningside students are invited to participate by walking or riding with the Spanish Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parade is part of Celebrando Siouxland<\/em>, a celebration organized by Unity in Action, an immigrant-serving nonprofit organization that provides resources, education, and support to immigrant communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSupporting Celebrando Siouxland matters because it is organized by Unity in Action, an immigrant-serving non-profit organization that provides resources, education, and support to encourage civic participation through citizenship classes, voter education, and community,\u201d said Dr. Stacy Alex, Morningside\u2019s Spanish professor and Spanish Club advisor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Alex also connected the celebration to her own research on Mexican American history in Sioux City\u2019s displaced South Bottoms neighborhood. According to Dr. Alex, Mexican American families organized similar community celebrations as early as the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis connects to my own research on local Mexican American history in Sioux City\u2019s displaced South Bottoms neighborhood. Thanks to the Sioux City Public Museum and donors such as the Bata family, we know Mexican American families organized similar community celebrations as early as the 1920s here in Sioux City.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The celebration also highlights the contributions Latino communities have made to Siouxland. Unity in Action organizes events such as business tours of South Sioux City, loteria game nights, and dance and music performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s valuable because encourages the public to reflect on how both urban and rural Midwest areas not only depend on Latino contributions but have been shaped by them for over 100 years,\u201d said Dr. Alex<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next event will be the Celebrando Siouxland Festival<\/em> on Sunday, September 20. Morningside students can volunteer at the Spanish Club\u2019s booth by signing up for a two-hour shift between 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Morningside students, volunteering offers a chance to learn about Latino culture while connecting with people from across Siouxland. Dr. Alex said that understanding different cultural perspectives can also help prepare students for their future careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur students will be working and living  in diverse communities across the country and the world. Understanding and appreciating multiple cultural perspectives makes you a stronger and more effective part of any team,\u201d said Dr. Alex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also emphasized the importance of cultural representation for students planning to work in education, psychology, nursing, and other fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor those planning to work with children in education, psychology, nursing, etc., it\u2019s important to recognize that all children deserve to see themselves represented and celebrated in public spaces. I am proud that our students are volunteering to support further visibility of Latino cultures,\u201d said Dr. Alex<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone in the Siouxland community is invited to participate in the celebration. Community members can attend the parade, visit the festival and support local Latino vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone is welcome to join us at the parade on Friday and festival on Sunday. Please stop by our booth and support local Latino vendors. Help spread the word whether it be inviting your family, church, team, or other organization,\u201d says Dr. Alex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Last year’s parade. Photo credit: Stacey Alex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Morningside students interested in participating can sign up through the Spanish Club\u2019s event information. Whether walking in the parade or volunteering at the festival booth, students can help connect the university with the larger Siouxland community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brayan Ramos – As September continues, the Siouxland community will have an opportunity to celebrate Latino heritage through a series of events connecting students, families, and community members\u00a0 through culture and education. The celebration began Wednesday, September 9, with the Spanish Club\u2019s Spanish Film Festival at the UPS Auditorium at the Lincoln Center. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":16893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16895,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16892\/revisions\/16895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}