AACC is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month until Oct. 15 with workshops, art exhibitions and games.

The month-long celebration kicked off on Sept. 15. Upcoming events include a demonstration showing how to bake a tres leches cake, a piñata workshop and a lesson in traditional Hispanic dancing.

“[These are] very important times,” said Professor Wilfredo Valladares Lara, the chair of the month’s festivities.

The 2025 National Hispanic Heritage Month theme is “Collective Migration.” The college has celebrated the month every year since 2008.

“At the moment, the Latin American community is going through a lot of challenges because of the current administration,” Valladares added.

Honduran first-year radiologic technology student Allison Velasquez agreed.

“I feel like this month, and after everything with the whole immigration ‘if-you-look-Hispanic’ thing going on, I feel like right now would be a great time for us to show all of our values and everything we’ve done as a community to help each other move on.”

The month will also feature an art exhibition from the Latinx perspective and a reception for the artists. In addition, AACC Athletics will host Noche Latina (Latin Night) on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. The Riverhawks men’s soccer team’s home game against Garrett Community College will be announced entirely in Spanish. A limited number of fans will receive free event T-shirts and players will hang flags in the bench area to represent their heritage.

Students said they appreciate that the college is acknowledging the month.

“I would love to see … an event that includes dancing and food, because dancing is so important to Hispanic culture,” said Lizbeth Loza-Cervantes, a Mexican first-year communications student. “Food is such a big part of our culture and just sharing food … can share so much about our culture and different cultures throughout the Hispanic community.”