“Yes, I do. One because we live in the [Rio Grande] Valley–over here it is basically all Spanish, you know. If you go to stores, employees will speak to you in Spanish, which is pretty good. And also, back at home, we usually eat Mexican food: beans, tortillas, mainly Mexican food.”
Javier Ontiveros criminal justice senior“I do feel connected to my heritage because I feel, like, in this environment in the UTRGV aspect, I feel like everybody is very welcoming and homey, and understands the situations of being Hispanic or, like, being [a] first-generation student like I am.”
Anahi Perez nursing freshman“Yes, I feel connected to my heritage every day because there are people around me that are connected to my heritage as well.”
Jacob Villarreal nutritional science junior“I do because my family is Hispanic, and we all live here in Edinburg, and we are close to the border where most of our family is … in Mexico. We just feel connected with everyone here because there is mostly Hispanic people and we could bond a lot with each other, and the food is awesome here.”
The Rider ![“Yes, I do. One because we live in the [Rio Grande] Valley–over here it is basically all Spanish, you know. If you go to stores, employees will speak to you in Spanish, which is pretty good. And also, back at home, we usually eat Mexican food: beans, tortillas, mainly Mexican food.”
Javier Ontiveros
criminal justice senior](https://www.utrgvrider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/vaquerovoice_3DG-1024x731.jpg)
![“I do feel connected to my heritage because I feel, like, in this environment in the UTRGV aspect, I feel like everybody is very welcoming and homey, and understands the situations of being Hispanic or, like, being [a] first-generation student like I am.” Anahi Perez nursing freshman](https://www.utrgvrider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/vaquerovoice_1DG-1024x731.jpg)
Rebeca Salinas 
Daniela Chapa-Reyes 
Eduardo Escamilla 
Ali Halloum 