A time to thank.

A time to teach.

A time to learn.

At Iowa State, “Sin Fronteras: A Month Without Borders” paves the way as the theme for this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month.

“We are breaking boundaries. We are breaking borders,” said Yanira Pacheco-Ortiz, adviser for the Hispanic Heritage Month committee.

Hispanic Heritage Month is in full swing. Opening ceremonies on Friday launched a month of efforts to promote awareness, outreach, politics and community activities.

This year, participants can look forward to a progressive celebration as a “Month Without Borders” reaches out to other ethnic communities and expands beyond the local frontier.

“We’re teaching the ISU community in general, and we are also doing outreach with other Latino communities in Iowa,” Pacheco-Ortiz said. “We want to let people know that we are here to teach and to learn, not only about contributions of the Latino community, but also about the many contributions of different ethnic communities on campus.”

This year, the committee has worked with many different organizations. One event occurs in conjunction with the Ames community organization, FACES (Families of Ames Celebrating Ethnicities).

“Last year we had over 50 children with their parents attending the activities,” Pacheco-Ortiz said.

Speakers for this month will address a variety of issues and meanings.

“I’m really excited about our speakers,” said Leticia Romo, president of the committee. Lalo Alcaraz, a satirist, cartoonist and writer, will be one of the guests presenting this month. “His points of view are really testy,” she said.

Planning for this year’s celebration began last spring as a theme was discussed and dates were set.

“The committee met once or twice a week, and I cannot thank them enough,” said Romo, senior in management.

“I’m very proud of this month. It’s definitely going to be one of the best years.”

Hispanic Heritage Month began as a one-week celebration and was extended to an entire month. In 1989, Hispanic Heritage Month was recognized by Congress and an annual celebration of diversity and culture was born.

Each year it begins Sept. 15 and concludes Oct. 15.

Sept. 16 is Mexican Independence Day, Oct. 12 is Dia de la Raza (Day of the Race) and Oct. 15 is Independence Day for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.