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Culture

“Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together” – Progressive AND Fitting

Morgan Kilger
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted a Hispanic Heritage Week. President Ronald Reagen changed this to Hispanic Heritage Month in August of 1988. Since then, Hispanic Heritage Month has been celebrated over a 30-day period. 

The 2024 theme is “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together”. Frankly, I think that theme is very fitting and goes well with the mission of Hispanic Heritage Month. 

The mission of Hispanic Heritage Month is to recognize the Hispanic/Latino Americans who shaped history. With this year’s theme, it fits because it’s giving more recognition to those that shaped Hispanic American history. 

From people like Cesar Chavez, a labor leader and social reformer, and Sylvia Mendez, a child advocate for school desegregation, to Jennifer Lopez and Ted Cruz; Hispanic Americans are shaping their futures throughout the decades. 

This theme wasn’t needed for these famous Hispanic Americans to make their marks, however. 

Before they became famous, Chavez, Mendez, Lopez and Cruz were already making their marks on the world. Lopez and Cruz got a head start with the publicity aspect of it because of their fame in Hollywood. 

“Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together” is also a progressive theme as well as a fitting theme. I’m finding this theme progressive due to its wording. Every word in the title has progressive tones to it. 

They just mesh perfectly. 

Start with the word pioneer. Pioneer’s progressive tone comes from what a pioneer is. A pioneer is someone who is the first person to make a change or have an idea about something. Civil rights aren’t new ideas, but they are ever-changing ideas through time. 

Next is the word change. Change is probably as progressive as it gets. To make change is to make progress, which checks out in my book. I feel that this is the most progressive aspect of the theme’s title. 

Shaping the future is also pretty progressive. The progress being made by Hispanic Americans is shaping their futures as a group. 

Finally, the word together. Together is not only a progressive word, but it’s the perfect closing word for the title. The four words that come before together are progressive on their own, but having together makes the title more powerful than it was without it. 

Coming together is making a change. Coming together is shaping the future. 

From September 15 – October 15, watch the pioneers of change shape the future together in the most progressive and fitting way in modern history. 

Morgan Kilger is a junior at St. Bonaventure University. She is from Buffalo, NY and is super excited to start her first year at Her Campus! She plans on writing about pop culture, current events and lifestyle. Morgan is most excited to join the sisterhood that Her Campus proudly portrays and write about things that she is passionate about on a safe platform. Morgan is a double major in history and women’s studies with a political science minor. She plans on pursuing a career in museum work. She dreams of one day working in either Washington D.C. or Salem, Massachusetts. You can also find Morgan working on campus as a student ambassador, the Features Editor for The Bona Venture — St. Bonaventure’s student-run newspaper — and in participating clubs like the SBU Dance Team and College Democrats. Morgan also enjoys volunteering at places like the local SPCA and the Olean Warming House in her free time. Outside of her Bonaventure life, Morgan enjoys several hobbies. She likes to play with her dogs Oliver and Lylah, read her favorite books for the millionth time and to watch Gilmore Girls — she’s team Logan. You can also find Morgan hanging out with her roommates for family dinners or having movie nights.