The Adams State University Cultural Awareness and Student Achievement Center (CASA) and Nielsen Library will host a variety of events during Cesar Chavez Week, March 28 through April 2.
The week’s theme, Land, Labor, Water: A Journey Through Our Heritage, will include film, lectures, music, dance lessons, food, and art.
A film screening of Prejudice and Pride (1965-1980) and moderated discussion on the Chicano Movement, led by Paul Echeverria Jones, begins at 6 p.m. Monday, March 28, on the Nielsen Library second floor. A light dinner will be served. The event is free and open to the public.
A themed meal, sponsored by CIELO Kindred Spirits, will include the lecture, Walking with Cesar Chavez: Inspiration from a Great Man, by Lawrence Trujillo, Center School District, at noon Tuesday, March 29, in the Student Union Building banquet rooms.
Work of the Sociedad Protección Mútua de Trabajadores Unidos (SPMDTU) with guest speakers Rogelio Briones, SPMDTU; Dr. Jose Rivera, research scholar for the Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico; and SPMDTU Vice President Miguel Sisneros; begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, on the Nielsen Library second floor. A light dinner will be served. The event is free and open to the public.
Guest lecturer Dr. Ramon Del Castillo, professor and chair of Chicano/a Studies Conference, Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU); will present Living the Legacy of Cesar E. Chavez and the United Farm Workers through Nonviolence, at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 31, on the Nielsen Library second floor. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served. The event is free and open to the public.
The Adams State Cultural Awareness and Student Achievement Center (CASA) will hold its annual fundraiser on Thursday, March 31. Beginning with an horno cook-out at 6:30 p.m. and followed by a concert with the Latin jazz band, Nosotros. Music will include free dance lessons.
The fundraiser continues from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Friday, April 1, at the CASA Center, with horno bread baking by Bertha Garcia, Santa Domingo Pueblo, NM. The bread sells for $8 a loaf. Along with the bread, CASA will have biscochitos and Capulin jelly for sale; $3 for the cookies (four large to a bag) and $6 for a half pint of jelly and $12 for a pint. Pre-orders are recommended.
Throughout the Friday fundraiser MSU Journey Through Heritage Cultural Center students will create graffiti art.
To purchase tickets for Thursday, or for Friday pre-orders, contact Oneyda Maestas, CASA director at 719-587-7687; 719-688-9083; or olmaestas@adams.edu. Tickets/preorders may also be purchased between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday at the CASA Center, located on the west end of the Nielsen Library parking lot.
Cesar Chavez Week concludes with the induction and blessing ceremony for the Corn Mother Project at the San Luis Valley Museum, located on 401 Hunt Street in Alamosa. The ceremony will be held from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday, April 2, and includes the photography exhibit, music, food, and dance.
Cesar Chavez Week sponsors include ASU CASA Center; Nielsen Library, National Endowment: 500 Years of Latino American History (Nielsen Library grant); Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area; and ASU Title V UNIDOS grants from Lori Laske, executive director of Alumni and Donor Relations, and Miguel Chaparro, College Assistance Migrant Program recruitment and retention.
