The Merrick Avenue Middle School International Buddy Club celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month at their meeting on Oct. 5.

Seventh grade student Irene Salvador-Andrade gave a presentation on her heritage.

She spoke about food, traditions and holidays, places to visit, and the climate in El Salvador.

“Irene's presentation was so engaging and lead to a lot of great conversation and questions,” said French teacher and event organizer Denise Schleith. “Other students of Hispanic heritage shared some similar foods and customs. In addition, club members learned about the legend of Guatemalan worry dolls.”

According to the tradition of the Mayans from the Guatemalan highlands, when children are scared or have nightmares, they give them worry dolls before they go to sleep.

“Then, they put them under the pillow, and when they wake up, their worries are gone,” explained Rosa Kaplan, a world languages chairperson. “Worry dolls are incredible pieces of a traditional Guatemalan legend.”

On Oct. 7, the Mepham High School Spanish Honor Society under the direction of Erika Feldman and Christine O’Neil, hosted an ELITE event in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month. Students celebrated the upcoming Mexican holiday, El Día del los Muertos, by decorating “sugar skulls” and making lanterns.

During the week of Oct. 11, students in Dominique Serpico’s class at MAMS recreated their own version of Talavera tiles.

“The students learned about the significance of Hispanic Heritage month and learned some facts about Talavera tiles,” Serpico explained. Talavera is a style brought from Spain to Mexico during the 15th century.

“The Talavera style traditionally used blue as the primary color but expanded to other colors such as green, mauve and red,” added Kaplan. “You can find Talavera in different pottery, tiles, home decorations and more not only throughout Mexico but all over the world.”