Kelloggsville — Junior Diana Blanco flips through a stack of brightly colored Lotería boards, called “tablas,” looking for her favorite one.
“It’s the one that I seem to win most of the time,” Diana said with a laugh.
She does not find it but does see her second-favorite board before shuffling the boards back together and placing them on the table.
Diana is the president of the high school’s Latino Student Union. Started in 2017, the student-led group supports students and celebrates Hispanic culture and heritage through a number of activities. These include Dia de los Muertos — Day of the Dead — displays at the high school and Southeast Elementary, and selling roses during Valentine’s Day.
“The overall goals are to celebrate our culture,” said teacher Diane Berlanga, the LSU adviser. “It is a place to be yourself, share your traditions and family values with the group, in the school and the community.”
‘It shows everyone more about our culture and gives people more of an opportunity to learn about it through the games we play.’
— freshman Vivianna Lopez
Sharing Culture Through Games
During the four weeks of National Hispanic Heritage Month, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, students spend their lunch period each Thursday inviting their peers to take part in traditional Hispanic activities. Activities have included making tissue-paper flowers and papel picado, intricately cut tissue-paper banners.
On this Thursday, LSU members played Lotería (low-tear-RE-ah), often known as Mexican bingo. Each card features a 16-square grid, with each square illustrated with images and Spanish words.
The caller, or “el cantor,” draws from a 54-card deck and announces each card before placing it on the table. Participants search their cards to see if they have the image. If they do, they place a chip on that square. Players win by completing four squares in a row, either across, down or diagonally, or by filling all four corners.
“This is a traditional game that many Hispanic families play,” Diana said. “In my family, when there isn’t much else to do, someone would eventually say, ‘Let’s play Lotería,’ and we would be pulling out the boards.”
She noted that Lotería is one of the few board games in Hispanic culture. Other popular games are dominoes and the traditional Mexican spinning-top game La Pirinola, which LSU also plans to introduce students to, she said.
“This is a game where each participant has so many beans, and they spin the six-sided top to learn if they have to add to or take from the pot,” Diana said. “You want to get ‘toma todo’ because that means you get the pot and you win.
“It’s a lot of fun, as you can have lots of participants and people get so excited and into the game.”
Top Lotería winner, freshman Vivianna Lopez, said she was excited to have the game and other activities at the school.
“It shows everyone more about our culture and gives people more of an opportunity to learn about it through the games we play.”
Putting Their Flag Knowledge to the Test
There also was a flag game in which students were given three flags and had to place them on the correct Latin American country. Those who did received a piece of Hispanic candy.
“We brought the flag game back from last week because it was so popular,” said sophomore Cristian Lopez, who at one point during the lunch period was surrounded by students wanting to test their knowledge.
“I think what surprises me is how much students know about the flags and which countries they belong to,” Cristian said, noting that Kelloggsville has a large Hispanic student population. According to Mi School Data, about 44% of the students are Latino or Hispanic within the district.
“I think the hardest flag is Argentina because people get it mixed up with the Mexican flag,” he said.
While the two flags have different colors — Argentina’s is blue and white, and Mexico’s is red, white and green — Cristian said he thinks what trips people up is that they both use stripes and have a symbol in the middle.
Sophomore Audrina Diaz was helping Cristian with the flag game. “It brings so many different cultures together,” Audrina said about the LSU event. “My hope is that this encourages students to try and learn new things.”
Diana, the LSU president, said National Hispanic Heritage Month’s main focus is to provide an opportunity for students and the community to learn more about Hispanic culture.
“I just feel it is an incredible opportunity to be able to share our culture and traditions with those at the school,” Diana said. “To be able to share what I do with my family, playing Lotería, shows what is important to us and what has been passed down through the generations.”
As Diana spoke, noise came from the Lotería table as another round of the game was completed and the winning student collected her prize of candy.
“The games bring everyone together, laughing and having fun, just like they do in my family,” she said.
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