CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — The Camden City School District celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month on Friday with a festival at Eastside High School, where a special guest delivered words of encouragement.
Students sang and danced for the crowd before lunch in the gym at Eastside High.
“Self esteem matters. Identity matters, and we just want our young people to be secure in who they are,” said Superintendent Katrina McCombs.
“It is so very important to let our young people know the many vast contributions made by Hispanic Americans because we want them to see themselves in the future but also in today.”
McCombs says they take every opportunity they can to celebrate diversity in the district, which is about 55% Hispanic. One of the invited speakers Friday was state Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez.
“We’re very diverse, but we have a lot in common, and I want our children to understand that we are pretty much the same — and that’s what makes this country so unique,” said Cruz-Perez.
A native of Puerto Rico, and the first Latina to serve in New Jersey’s General Assembly, she says she’s hoping to inspire the next generation of leaders.
“I wanted to do something to show and demonstrate that I’m going to open the door and I’m going to leave it open for people to follow. So my legacy is not that I became the first, it’s that I opened the door for many Latinas to follow,” said Cruz-Perez.
“The sky is the limit when you put your mind to it. There’s a lot of opportunity and if you work hard, you can go anywhere you want to go.”
McCombs says representation matters, so there’s no substitute for having someone like Cruz-Perez to show hispanic students a potential path to success.
National Hispanic Heritage Month runs every year from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.