Latin Heritage month recently came to a close, but it went out with a big bang.

The members of the dynamic Hispanic community at SMU, through considerable planning and funding, were able to put on several events that would promote pride in the Latino community.

The theme for the events was “Latinos Leading in a Global Society,” and the final event, “Welcome to Miami,” featured an award-winning spoken-word poet, Joaquin Zihuantenejo, accompanied by a live Latin band.

Jacky Negrete, the president of College Hispanic American Students, opened the night by saying, “We all have something to say,” and encouraged the students to be a voice on campus.

As the “pan dulce y café,” dessert and coffee, was served and the students mingled, the band played loudly.

This drew attention from one of the other events in Hughes-Trigg that Thursday evening, even causing some of those attending the slightly more formal event to shuffle over to the one that had music.

Several students jumped out of their seats and began to dance. The night was filled with a sense of life and pride.

When the poet presented his poems, his entire voice filled the room.

As one of the attendees, Jessica Betancourt, said later: “Spoken-word artists are vital. They are living, breathing art and people who express words through an entirely new medium.”

Although not a member of the Latino community myself, I was honored to be among such passionate students as we were given the opportunity to experience art.

I would highly recommend that my fellow students stay alert for what is going around the SMU campus, because there are probably many nights such as this one, the flyers for which we miss as we rush to classes.