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Community Engagement and Inclusiveness
Community Impact Newsletter: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15)
This year, our Community Impact initiatives focus on community and belonging through narrative storytelling. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we recognize how stories help us learn about each other’s traditions and how we are all connected.
Lower School Celebration
To kick off Hispanic Heritage Month, Lower School students in the Community Engagement Club listened to the audiobook Round Is a Tortilla by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, a vibrant, rhyming picture book that introduces shapes through the lens of Latino culture. After a group discussion, students created their own papel picado banners using construction paper and geometric shapes, blending art with cultural storytelling.
Middle & Upper School Celebration
Middle & Upper School Celebration
In collaboration with Club Latino, led by moderators Libia Zapata and Ana Carthery, our MS/US community welcomed Dr. Jorge Garcia, a GA parent, physician and professor, as our keynote speaker during Convocation. A native of Colombia, Dr. Garcia shared his powerful personal journey, from arriving in the U.S. as a young medical student to becoming an internationally recognized cancer researcher and leader.
He spoke about the role of hope, heritage and belonging in shaping identity and leadership. Drawing from his Hispanic roots and professional experience, Dr. Garcia encouraged students to:
- honor their heritage without letting it define their limits,
- create belonging by helping others feel fully seen and valued,
- and to live with hope, the fuel that drives change and courage.
