Hispanic Day returns to STU after four years
Fredericton, New Brunswick – Earlier this morning, professors and students in the Spanish department at St. Thomas University gathered for a Hispanic Day celebration. The event lasted four hours, from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, and featured student presentations and a delicious lunch. There was a range of Latin American dishes made by students and professors for all attendees to enjoy.
Second-year student, Erin Moore, enjoying the Hispanic Day food. (Photo: Erin Hurley)
This was the first Hispanic Day since 2019 because of pandemic restrictions. Before then, Professor Mary Lou Babineau had been going to Hispanic Day celebrations at the university since 2004.
“In 2019, we had one about two weeks before everything started being closed down. So it was a really nice feeling today to look around and see that we’re back to doing our Hispanic Day,” said Professor Babineau.
After four years without a Hispanic Day celebration at the university, this was certainly a memorable one. Student presentations ranged from singing and musical performances to skits, videos, poster displays and more. One especially memorable performance was a Latin American song sang by two students in Professor Babineau’s class.
Student Fabio Kutnowski playing a Latin American song. (Photo: Erin Hurley)
“Today, I learned that two of my students have – and I don’t know where they’ve come from with this talent with singing – but they’ve got the most beautiful voices and they sang a beautiful harmony of a very classic Latin American song. That was a huge surprise to me, so every year I’m surprised by something,” said Babineau.
Students were free to decide their presentation topic, but they had to do something related to Latin America, like singing a Spanish song or making a Spanish dish. One group made a video of people dancing to the Macarena song, another group made pico de gallo, and another presented about the countries of Costa Rica and Honduras.
Students doing a presentation on Honduras. (Photo: Erin Hurley)
Second-year student Martina Barclay shared her favorite presentation of the day, which echoed the sentiments of Professor Babineau.
“I think the two girls who sang. I was kind of expecting it to be a funny little karaoke number and they were actually so talented, and I wanted to sing along but I just didn’t know the song. It was… yeah, it was a really fun day.”
In between the presentations, people enjoyed an array of Latin American dishes for lunch made by professors and students alike… everything from pico de gallo to chili to alfajores. There was even cake and a piñata to end the celebration!
A student having a piece of cake. (Photo: Erin Hurley)
Professor Omar Basabe holding the piñata. (Photo: Erin Hurley)
“Especially for many of us students taking Spanish classes, it’s just a great way to learn about the culture as opposed to just reading and doing grammar in Spanish. It’s just a really fun day for us to learn more about the culture,” Barclay said.
