State rep. to speak on Hispanic heritage

By Cameron Kerkau, Staff Reporter.

Vanessa Guerra, State Representative of the 95th District, will speak at the Delta’s College Saginaw Ricker Center auditorium on Oct. 20 about Hispanic heritage.

“I’ll be speaking about the role my culture played in my upbringing and how it affected the choices I made,” said Guerra.

Preceding Guerra’s speech will be a Human Museum where Delta College students will present themselves as museum exhibits.

“We wanted to do something a little different this year and get Delta students involved,” said John Neal, multicultural advisor at Delta College.

Each exhibit will deal with a different aspect of Hispanic culture — past and present. Students will do a presentation on the topic of their choosing such as Frida Kahlo or baile folklórico (folk dancing).

The museum exhibits begin at 6:30 p.m. Each student will speak for five to 10 minutes. Afterward, attendees will be served authentic Mexican food catered by Maria’s Mexican Restaurant from Saginaw. The night will finish with the address given by Vanessa Guerra.

Guerra dual enrolled at Delta College in high school. Afterward, she double majored in political science and Latino studies at the University of Michigan. Currently she is enrolled in law school at the University of Detroit Mercy. Guerra has also been appointed the minority leader for the Michigan House Democratic Caucus, serves as the minority vice chairperson of the criminal justice committee and is one of two legislators from the House on the Michigan Legislative Council’s Criminal Justice Policy Commission.