By Azariah Smith ’23
On Sept. 15, 2022, DHS started off Hispanic Heritage Month with salsa dancing and the Latin HeartBeat Orchestra.
The DHS auditorium was filled with approximately 350 students. The students were excited since it was the first school event of the year. With about 36 percent of Hispanic students in our school, they were thrilled to see their culture being represented.
The Latin Heartbeat Orchestra consists of six members all from the state of New York. William Mendoza, the director of the band and born in Caguas, Puerto Rico says, “Fifty-three years ago, my love for music had started with an uncle of mine that played the maracas.” Mendoza started the Latin Heartbeat Orchestra which has since become a well-known band in the area.
During the performance, the band played cultural music and songs written by the band. The music was very upbeat and it showed a very good representation of Latin music. During this performance, there were many instruments such as drums, keyboards, and maracas. A few of our own band kids played a song with them, such as Sean Fernly ‘23, Alysa Cayer-McCarthy ‘23, Colin Strictland ‘23, Danthy Nguyen ‘23, Vanessa Nguyen ‘25, Nicole Gregory ‘25, Giana Akter ‘25, Kevin Mcguire ‘25, and Tyler Izquierdo ‘25.
We also had Lamont Jefferson ‘23 on stage freestyling and dancing along with The Latin Heartbeat. Students had been very energetic seeing one of their own get up on stage. People were recording and started dancing along with Jefferson, who impressed the crowd with his performance.
Derby High School hopes to have more events like this in the future.
The Raider Press 