Picnic brings community together

Sunday's Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration Picnic offered a comfortable setting for Hispanic and Latin American faculty and staff to meet and greet.

By Esten Hurtle

Published Sept. 11, 2007

Sunday's Hispanic Heritage Month Potluck Picnic was celebrated with party games and food as a way to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins on Sept. 15, and to welcome back returning Hispanic and Latin American faculty and staff to the university.

The event was sponsored by the Hispanic and Latin American Faculty and Staff Association and hosted by Judy Elliott. Elliott, who teaches medical Spanish in her retirement, has a long-standing relationship with the Hispanic community.

Over her life, she has taken over 600 college students to Mexico to study and played host to exchange students.

"I've always been interested in Hispanic culture," Elliott said.

HLAFSA organized the picnic in order to serve as an official welcome to university personnel of Hispanic or Latin American descent.

Students from the Hispanic American Leadership Organization also attended the picnic.

"It was nice to have some students here to meet faculty and staff from the university," MU's Chief Diversity Officer Roger Worthington said. "It's good to have an event that is attended by everyone."

This year, the picnic took place in Elliott's neighborhood, a new location for the event.

Until recently, it was held at the Chancellor's Residence and was a much more formal event, HLAFSA Vice President Christiane Quinn said.

"We changed it to a picnic to involve the whole family," Quinn said.

This family atmosphere was apparent in everything from an egg toss to smashing a pinata.

The weather was clear, and there was plenty for the children to do. Francielie Quinn, Quinn's daughter, was one of the children enjoying the event.

"She really likes the outdoors," Quinn said.

Children weren't the only ones having fun. Adults were able to relax and meet with members of HLAFSA and the Hispanic community in an informal atmosphere.

"This is a great time for people to get together and have fun on a beautiful day, have a sense of community, relax and enjoy themselves," Worthington said.

That sense of community linked all of the attendees. Besides the picnic, HLAFSA sponsors other community events including a bilingual poetry contest.

"It's great because the Hispanic community is so diverse, but it's such a welcoming community. They integrate well with the rest of Columbia's community," Noor Azizan-Gardner, director for Programming and Professional Development at the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative, said.