GREENFIELD — Students, faculty and the community at Four Rivers Charter Public School gathered late Friday afternoon for food, music and dancing as the school held its third annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.

The growing event invites the celebration of Latin American and Hispanic cultures and histories from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The celebration falls within National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is recognized each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

Three years ago, students in Four Rivers’ Students for Racial and Social Justice group, alongside faculty and parent groups, organized the event for the first time to share different cultures with the community.

“I think it’s getting bigger every year, our community is really coming together,” said Four Rivers senior Willa Punches. “We’re trying to become an anti-racist school and I think this is a big part of that. … This is one part we can expand to the whole school community.”

This year’s celebration featured donations from Tito’s Taqueria, Terrazza, Big Y, Green Fields Market, Bueno y Sano, Mesa Verde and Roberto’s Pizzeria, and attendees were treated to a dance performance from Boston-based Corazón Chileno.

Four Rivers Spanish teacher Elizabeth Rodriguez Salas, who helps organize the celebration each year with fellow Spanish instructor Rebecca Rice, said the event is the culmination of several weeks of learning in the school’s Spanish classes, where kids explored historical and contemporary Hispanic figures who have made an impact on the world.

“It’s not just a party, it’s the curriculum, too,” said Rodriguez Salas, who helped lead the seventh graders in a dance. “It’s just really fun.”

Those explorations into Latin American and Hispanic heritage were on display for all to see Friday night, with a big board featuring each student’s essay about the figure they studied, written in Spanish.

Rice commended the students for “taking so much ownership” of the celebration and said there is a growing “momentum” surrounding the event, as it continues to grow.

She said one of the main goals of the event is to expose the students and their families to cultures that are different from those they see around Franklin County, in which 91.1% of the population is white and not of Hispanic or Latino heritage, according to the 2020 U.S. census. Through that exploration of cultures, Rice said, students can become “global citizens.”

“If we don’t go outside ourselves, we don’t know what’s possible,” Rice said. “It’s really important to cultivate community and you can’t have community without difference. We want to be a school that cherishes all backgrounds and cultures.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.