Filomena Hernandez Rodriguez delicately lifted balloons out of a black cart, fingers running over the dried strips of papier-mache before placing them on the long wooden tables throughout Lane Tech College Prep High School’s library.
A week prior, 90 students had packed the room during their open class period and selected a balloon to make into a pinata, excitedly chattering while dipping pieces of newspaper into a water and flour mixture before papering them. Rodriguez, a junior at Lane Tech, spread out the balloons, evidence of her desire to create community among her peers while honoring Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated across the U.S. from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, encompassing holidays from various cultures, including the Mexican Day of Independence and Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
Despite the fear in many communities as intimidation and arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ramp up across the Chicago area, students such as Rodriguez, 16, are finding solace and joy by honoring the holiday.
Sharing cultural traditions is not new for Lane Tech or Rodriguez, who hatched the plan to lead the pinata workshop. A year ago, when the fear of ICE sweeps and arrests was palpable, but the action was not as intense, Rodriguez hosted a workshop for schoolmates to make picture frames to place on an ofrenda, an altar traditionally set up to honor family and loved ones during Dia de los Muertos.
This year, her desire to celebrate and showcase her heritage was personal. Pinata making is fun and easy, but it’s also a nod to her mother, who died last year. After enrolling her in a class years ago, Rodriguez’s mother inspired her to pass along the skill to her schoolmates, she said.
“I was thinking about other students as well … if they’re perhaps going through my situation, I would want them to feel supported and safe in a way,” Rodriguez said. Knowing that others who share her experiences, she added, would know that “it’s OK to go through things,” she said.
Rodriguez has honored that desire through her club, Together We Thrive, which helped organize the workshop she said. Pinatas can be enjoyed by everyone, no matter their background, and that could be seen through the number of students who initially showed up to make one, she added.
“There’s a lot of people that are interested in these things,” Rodriguez said. “And since people are really diverse here, for our pinata (workshop), it wasn’t really just Hispanics, it was a lot of different races (of people) coming and they were also really intrigued and into learning something new.”
The workshop comes as students and parents are facing a mounting threat of ICE agents in their communities. Activity has been reported near schools across the city and suburbs, prompting buildings to adopt cautionary soft lockdowns. Chicago Public Schools has sent letters of assurances and guidance to families regarding the district’s protocols for immigration and customs enforcement activity, aiming to assure families that the district will not cooperate with the agency, nor give out personal information without a warrant. Immigrant rights information has also been distributed at schools across the district.
-
Chicago Lane Tech high school students, and seventh grader Sofia Santillan Rivera, make their own pinatas during Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 24, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
1 of 7
Chicago Lane Tech high school students, and seventh grader Sofia Santillan Rivera, make their own pinatas during Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 24, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Hispanic Heritage Month is a chance for the district to reflect on the ways “the culture, history and heritage of our Latinx students and staff enrich” CPS, interim CEO Macquline King said at the Chicago Board of Education’s Sept. 25 meeting.
“I know that this continues to be a time of great fear and anxiety for many of our students and families, but I want to emphasize again that CPS is fully prepared and that our schools remain the best and safest place for children in Chicago,” King said.
Fear and anxiety were absent from Lane Tech’s library on Sep. 24 as Spanish-language music echoed throughout the room and students filed in, locating their balloons from the previous week before settling into a chair. Rodriguez fluttered from table to table, colorful rolls of crepe paper in her hands.
Quietly, she demonstrated to each table how to decorate their pinata with the paper, gently running glue along one side of a purple strip before pushing it against the hardened shell of the balloon. Rodriguez met mishaps — popping balloons or ripping of tissue paper — with a smile showing students how to repair their creations before moving on to the next.
For Rodriguez, spotlighting Hispanic culture at Lane Tech is crucial to helping students feel seen during a tense time, she said. Most of the Hispanic students she knows are from the South Side, she added. “There’s fear. There’s a lot of preparation just in case the worst happens, but for students just to have each other is important.“
The school works to create a welcoming environment for everyone with one way being the student-led cultural workshops, said Gabriela Escobar, Lane Tech director of culture and climate.
Escobar monitored the pinata workshop and has helped with others since she began at the high school over 10 years ago, keeping traditional dresses and heirlooms safe in her office until it’s time for the workshops. The school has monthly cultural celebrations, she said, and what makes the events special is when people who identify with the culture contribute.
“It is so important, too, that people see that and see themselves walking into this building and feel … like they’re visible, they’re not alone,” Escobar said.
That’s been tough to achieve in the last couple of years, she added. She senses students are afraid. However, all students should feel safe in their schools, no matter the current events or their ethnic background.
“(Students) need to be seen, and they need to be heard, and they need to know that regardless of what’s happening in the world, they have a space,” Escobar said. “They have people supporting them. They have people that care about their communities and their voices.”
Overall, Hispanic Heritage Month should remind everyone — including those who might dislike them — that Hispanic people are human beings with cultures that should be celebrated and communities that want to come together, even in times of fear, Rodriguez said.
“These views that these people have on us is not what is reality,” Rodriguez said. “We are people. We’re family. We like to bring people together, and we deserve to be here.”
