By: Myron Dyson
Many things are happening at Tri-C for Spanish Heritage Month. One resource actively raising awareness is the Al Lopez Academic Alliance [ALAA further in the article]. The ALAA is a student-based community that helps each student persevere and accomplish their academic goals. This Academic Alliaance accepts every student and offers their resources, support, and experiences to help students to keep on their path to success and to have the confidence and courage they need to make it to graduation day. That amazing walk of success to receive their degree or certificate here at Tri-C. ALAA offers a monthly newsletter about events, resources, and different ways to get involved with on-campus activities, community service opportunities and workshops. They also have bilingual (Spanish-speaking) staff and referrals to bilingual tutoring. They help domestic students with FAFSA.
Sometimes ALAA hosts fun events to help the community to de-stress. For example, on October 7th from 1pm to 2pm on East Campus, they organized the “Hips and Harmony” event. Student leader Jaribel Nieves directed the event, and all students and staff were invited. The event took place in the ESS Gym, with dancing, music and a burrito bar, and refreshments served for every attendee.
As ALAA works not only at East Campus, on October 1st, they hosted a Latin Cinema event in MLA 102 at noon. After the main screening, they held a Q&A session. The movie played that day was “A Bruddah’s Mind” (2020, Brazil). The movie is based on a true story of Saulo, a high school student from Brazil. He was committed to radical change in the Brazil’s school system and studied the Black Panther Movement and Student protests. He was a black student in the Brazilian school system who faced racial insults and threatened expulsion in Fortaleza, Brazil. The sad thing that he was he had been killed by the Brazilian police, who shot him when he was trying to stop all the negative things that were exposing the local school system and him getting expelled. Inequality in Brazil is worse than in the United States, and Saulo was trying to protest and fight against the system, so that people could have education and more equal rights. He was trying to take a stance just like the Black Panther Movement and is recognized as a hero. Some of the thoughts that the movie may provoke are that to be recognized as a hero, you might have to die and might not be able to see the recognition until after you die.
Another event hosted by Al Lopez Academic Alliance at Metro campus was “Hispanic Refresher” on October 13th, 2026. At this event, one was able to make arts and crafts and receive a ticket for that, and the ticket could be exchanged for food from the taco bar that was there: hard-shell, or soft-shell tacos, with chicken or beef, with any toppings, fresh vegetables, cheeses, and sauces of one’s choice to make a perfect taco. They also had ice cream and drinks. The goal of this event was to create a fun, social and friendly environment for students to unwind and relax. Music and a student playing the bongo created a good atmosphere. Other activities included an origami station and a spinning-wheel raffle. Students who signed in with Student Life were provided with the QR code to a WhatsApp group for updates and events.
I attended this event, and it was enjoyable. A lot of students were involved because the Metro Student Government and Student Life did an amazing job of planning different types of events, collaborating with different clubs, organizations, and resources, and connecting them to student body.
