HART HIGH'S STUDENTS CELEBRATE TRUE COLORS CAMPUS REACHES GOAL OF CULTURAL AWARENESS.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS  Staff Writer

Bright folklorico dresses in pink, yellow, red and blue swayed rapidly Wednesday to the beat of the mariachi music.

Taquitos, quesadillas and horchata, a Mexican sweet rice drink, were passed around at a lunchtime event at Hart High School, the first of its kind celebrating the culture of the growing Latino student population.

The Corazon sin Fronteras event -- ``Hart Without Boundaries'' -- drew crowds of students to the music stage and to tables featuring Latino foods. This just six months after racial brawls broke out on the Hart campus.

The school, whose response to the turmoil earned it recognition from the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission as a model for human relations, has been working toward implementing programs celebrating campus diversity.

``This is about bringing peace to a campus through cultural awareness,'' said Josh Parr, senior analyst for the county commission.

For students such as senior Ana Herrera, the idea of having a day devoted to cultural awareness can only enrich her peers.

``The idea of having a day to celebrate our culture has been around for years,'' Herrera said. ``If people learn about other cultures, they will not be ignorant, and they won't make hasty decisions about Hispanics, like that we are poor or gangsters.''

Change of Hart, one of the first clubs to form on the Hart campus in the aftermath of the racial conflicts, has been working as the liaison between the human relations committee and students, and it quickly signed on to help out with the event.

The students were able to get donations for food and decorations from community businesses, including Tresierras Supermarkets, which donated pinatas and dozens of tamales.

For students such as Miriam Santana, one of the organizers, having a cultural event of this size was all about changing a negative past and turning it into a brighter future.

``(The racial fights) were like a huge reality check; people realized there were things we needed to work on,'' Santana said.

``This is like our house, and if anyone considers this school racist, it is insulting to me as well.''

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Erika Rodriguez, 18, and other Hart High School students put on a traditional folklorico dance performance Wednesday.

David Crane/Staff Photographer