Walking into room 4255 felt like any Carne Asada I’ve ever been to. There was so much Latinidad that it was easy to forget I was in Oak Park. But this is ASPIRA we’re talking about, the club dedicated to empowering Latino youth. Through conversations with their leaders, I was reminded of the significance of celebrating Latinidad and Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

On Sept. 30, ASPIRA had a cooking day in which they made “aguas frescas,” a Hispanic drink. The music. The conversation. The Bad Bunny adlib. It was all out of place. The amount of culture shock was intense, even though it was my culture.

Living in Oak Park sometimes feels like an amalgamation of everything my childhood was not, a stark contrast with my family’s background. At the ASPIRA meeting, my heritage had never been so visible while remaining in the confines of Oak Park and River Forest High School.

Although Latinidad does not depend on wealth or status of one’s neighborhood, with the large demographic of Latinos living in poverty in and out of the United States, as a community, we think it does. In essence, the generalization of the Latino experience in the U.S. has led us to believe the suburbs were inaccessible, embedding this mindset of pride in living paycheck to paycheck and shaming those who don’t.

Paola Campuzano, a senior at OPRF and the president of ASPIRA, said her relatives, “tease me about being from Oak Park and this idea…that you’re not Latino if you don’t come from poverty.” Aside from simply being an issue within Latin Americans, it alienates the “rich no sabo kid” from their culture, leaving Latinidad out of a place like Oak Park.

In that instance, where do we fit? What is Latinidad in a place where there is very little of it? As a consequence of tying Latinidad to struggle and poverty, pride in Hispanic heritage is lost, and the beauty of it goes unseen. In reality, the joy of Hispanic heritage comes from the culture rather than the stereotype.

One of ASPIRA’s Activity Coordinators, senior Abigail Karolyi, said, “I get to speak Spanish, which is a language that I know so many people here are trying to learn. Another thing is also the music and dancing has also been like another big thing the past couple of years.”

Campuzano agreed, saying, “whether it’s through dancing or just being with family, I just begin to really appreciate the time and the energy that I’m being surrounded by.”

In all its aspects Latino culture is kept alive and appreciated by the art that has come from it, but even if it hadn’t, a Latino is never not Latino. Vincent Czarnkowski, another one of ASPIRA’s Activity Coordinators, said, “I always felt like my road would always end up leading back to Argentina no matter what I did.”

Puerto Ricans are always Puerto Ricans. Venezuelans are always Venezuelans. Mexicans are always Mexican. Regardless of the location, nationality is the gift that keeps on giving, especially in the melting pot that is the U.S., where culture is so easily lost and people are ostracized for being “too much.” Even with the varied demographics of Illinois and the tapestry of cultures from Oak Park to Chicago, there is a point at which the dynamics of Latinidad change in a neighborhood. Campuzano said, “Where’s the paletero? Where are the street vendors?”

Although ASPIRA does not fully replace those elements contributing to culture shock, they do accomplish what they set out to do, giving the whole nine yards of any Carne Asada I have ever been to and establishing a community in a way that unsurprisingly shows how family-oriented Latinos are. In essence, the club’s entire purpose lies in community.

Campuzano said her goal for the club is to “really create a safe, fun environment where we can learn to celebrate Latinidad.”

ASPIRA at OPRF works off the principles of the ASPIRA Charter School Network, established by ASPIRA Inc. of Illinois, a 40-plus-year-old nonprofit organization. ASPIRA is generally committed to, as expressed by Campuzano, “creating an environment where people could feel safe and make more friends because that can be hard due to cultural differences.”

Similarly, Karolyi said,  “It’s brought me closer to people who look and are the same way that I am.”

Overall, ASPIRA is run by a team that wants to simply celebrate Latinidad and bring people together. With Campuzano serving as President, Sofia Chavez as co-president and activity coordinators Czarnkowski and Karolyi, the team organizes enthusiastic and sometimes hectic committee meetings to ensure a structured approach to their objectives, co-sponsored by teachers Kelly Diaz, Stephanie Oliver and Erik Renteria, an ASPIRA alum.

ASPIRA’s activities include a planned field trip to the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and a Bomba music event aimed at educating members about its cultural significance. Additionally, the club hosts a spirit week and annual Day of the Dead celebrations, which feature significant mural projects, further enriching the cultural landscape of the community and promoting awareness of Hispanic heritage.

At heart, Hispanic Heritage Month is one of many designated months for schools to learn about various cultures. For the Latino community, it allows for a sense of unity for Latinos despite “las fronteras,” Spanish for “the borders.”

Although there is pride in the specific country every one of us is from, they do not fully define Hispanic heritage or Hispanic Heritage Month, which Campuzano states is a “time to learn about different cultures and their significance and their impact on the United States.”

The month gives Latinos national recognition, emphasizing Hispanidad because, as Karolyi said, “People don’t realize how big of a melting pot the US is of totally different cultures, a range of different people. It’s really important to be able to highlight our culture, our independence.”

It is essential to celebrate one’s culture, even outside of Hispanic Heritage Month. However, this month, Campuzano said, “is a time to take up space when we are often discouraged in celebrating our cultures. That’s why it’s important to dress up for Latino Culture Week. The goal of the week is to eliminate shame in dressing up in cultural attire, and celebrating ourselves.”