For over forty years, Dollars & Sense has been publishing the very best of Baruch College’s student journalism. Each week our editors and contributors meet to brainstorm ideas and workshop articles on Baruch, the five boroughs and beyond. Our aim is to highlight unique perspectives. This year we chose to focus on the rise of Latino culture. From Bad Bunny topping the charts to Argentina winning the World Cup just last week, Latin culture is taking the world by storm.

It all began at a Dollars and Sense meeting in early September of 2022. Though a few package ideas were thrown around, The Latino Rise really stuck with us. What started as a few stories on popular Latin restaurants and an interest in Spanlish music quickly blossomed into a multi-dimensional special report with nearly 10 feature articles.

In October, Baruch student and multimedia journalist, Brenika Banks published a timely piece on Vegandale, a vegan food festival featuring a variety of Latin vendors. It was accompanied by vibrant photos and served as a sneak peek to the package. In November, many of the D&S contributors joined other Baruch students on a trip to Corona, Queens. They visited Evelia’s Tamales where they sampled dishes, gathered quotes and came up with two unique articles on the longtime neighborhood favorite.

Clearly food played a large roll in our reporting process. But with the help of our contributors we were able to explore a variety of cultural themes from music to holidays to sports.

The creation of this package served as valuable learning experience in both a cultural and journalistic sense. While reporting a story, one student tried their first bite of Peruvian food. Another achieved their first by-line. We were able to go into depth on the traditions, celebrities, cuisines and more that help to drive our city, all by highlighting the rise of Latino culture.

Acknowledgements

This special report would not have been possible without the help of our faculty editors Andrea Gabor, Emily Johnson and Gisele Regatão. Our deepest appreciation goes out to these Baruch professors for their contributions and advice.

We want to thank the New Yorkers who graciously opened their homes and their restaurants to aid in the creation of this package. Through interviews, they were able to contribute their unique perspectives to each individual story.

Finally, we would like to thank the writers and reporters of Dollars & Sense who worked each week to create a collection of articles and photos we are exceptionally proud of.

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Editor in chief, Yadira Gonzalez

Managing editor, Mira Ciganek