As PHS strives to embrace its diversity, it has placed importance in acknowledging and respecting the many cultures that make up its student body. One way in which it has done this is through its celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, lasting from September 15 to October 15, with this year marking its 54th year of celebration.

There are many ways in which the school celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month, including hosting a Hispanic heritage assembly, reading the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish, hosting Hispanic heritage exhibits in the Numina Gallery, and bringing back the popular door decorating contest from last year.

“One of the things we pride ourselves in at Princeton High School is understanding world cultures,” said Frank Chmiel, the PHS Principal. “The way we build that empathy is by learning from different cultures, learning about them, and showing your support and honoring them.”

As part of the initiative to learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month, each grade had the opportunity to go to an assembly during assigned periods on October 18 18. The assembly consisted of a number of performances by PHS students all centered around the theme of celebration of Hispanic heritage.

Performances by the PHS a cappella groups were a major part of the assembly. Before entering the auditorium, The Cat’s Meow, an all-female acapella group, welcomed the numerous students with a rendition of a song called “Vivir Mi Vida” by Marc Anthony, the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time and winner of multiple Grammys. Cloud Nine, another PHS a cappella group, also performed at the assembly, singing a song named “Gracias A La Vida,” which was written by Mercedes Sosa, an Argentine singer.

“The assembly went really well! To prepare for it, we started to practice about two weeks in advance and every day at practice until the assembly. Bianca and Sarah are two Latina members in Cloud Nine and they helped us to learn the Spanish and the pronunciations,” said Leah Rose Seiden ’24, a member of the a cappella group Cloud Nine.

Along with choral performances, the celebration also included dancing and a flag parade, similar to last year. This year’s assembly had some significant differences from last year’s though. Possibly the most significant change was the shortened length of the event, aimed at leaving time for students to visit interactive stations posted outside the PAC.

“We cut half of the assembly in order to engage the students more. We want them to have more participation and one on one interactions. It brings up the energy for the rest of the students,” said Jealyn Vega Ramos ’23, Co-President of the Latinas Unidas club. “The stations we prepared after the assembly had things like the karaoke, the tattoos; things that we would typically see in our culture that many students don't know about, or just could learn more about.”

In addition to the reduction in the length of the assembly, some of its performances were also modified to better highlight the diversity of Hispanic culture.

“One difference [from last year] was the flag entrance. Instead of having it from the doors, we had it on stage in order to again, acknowledge all of our flags, and all the countries very clearly,” Ramos said.

Another way that PHS celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month this year was through the door decoration contest. In this contest, students collaborate with fellow peers and teachers to furnish their homeroom doors with Hispanic culture themed decorations. They have until November 1, or Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), to finalize the doors. This fun competition exposes students to the vibrant culture of Latin America, from the traditional paper cutout ornaments of Cinco de Mayo, to the colorful skulls of Dia De Los Muertos.

Along with the assembly and celebrations, the Latinos Unidos Club and the school administrative team worked to come up with more creative and engaging ways to spread the Hispanic culture.

“There are multiple more ways we recognize the month including some of the food we cook in the cafeteria, during the month, as well as some of the displays we have going on around the building,” Chmiel said. “Of course, the assembly is one of the climaxes of the way we recognize the month.”

While PHS is doing many things to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, there are still many ways that it could improve. Specifically, Ramos believes that Hispanic Heritage should continue to be celebrated all year long. Although this idea doesn’t have to be limited to just Hispanic heritage, but rather all cultures in general, Ramos believes that many aspects of Hispanic culture, such as music, are very influential to our day to day lives.

“We should be able to celebrate [Hispanic Heritage] all year long. Not just to enjoy the celebration once October 15 ends, [but also] be able to still acknowledge the fact that these Latino and Hispanic artists are making a change with their music,” Ramos said.