Harper will hold its inaugural National Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Week celebration September 8-12, highlighting the college鈥檚 proud HSI designation and commitment to equity, student belonging and community impact.
National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week recognizes the important role HSIs play in helping to expand educational opportunities and advancing success for all students, with intentional support strategies for Latine, Black and other historically underserved populations.
Master dance instructor and choreographer Lyrik Cruz will highlight 91制片厂鈥檚 HSI Week, which includes the following events, which are free and open to everyone:
Cruz has choreographed for international recording artists J Balvin and Becky G, the 2018 film Shine, and the hit television shows American Idol, Grey鈥檚 Anatomy, The Ellen Show and Lip Sync Battle. He is currently the creative director and choreographer for the Imagen Awards and a member of legendary choreographer and director Debbie Allen鈥檚 creative team. He has appeared as a featured dancer in the movie In the Heights and the CW series Jane the Virgin.
Cruz got his start dancing in community dance groups at the age of 9. A native of Humboldt Park on Chicago鈥檚 West Side, Cruz said his Puerto Rican heritage and growing up in the Puerto Rican, Mexican and Black neighborhood gave him the energy and flavor that would become the foundation of his signature style.
鈥淓verything that I knew was in between the 10 blocks of Division Street to North Avenue and Kimball to Western,鈥� Cruz said. 鈥淚 grew up in the 鈥�80s and 鈥�90s. At that time, Humboldt Park was one of the most gang-infested neighborhoods in Chicago. I was blessed with a mother who tried to do the best that she could, raising three boys on her own. There were a lot of challenges being a lower-middle-class family and trying to survive. We went through a lot, but we had family, and we had community. Community is definitely the strongest force behind everything I鈥檝e been able to do.鈥�
Cruz credits his teachers in the performing arts program at Chicago鈥檚 Lincoln Park
High School with helping him realize he could turn his love of dance into a career.
He performed at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Humboldt Park Fieldhouse, and
by his senior year, founded a youth dance company that performed around the Chicago
area. Not long after, he joined Urban Credo, a student company based at Columbia College,
which performed at Dance Africa in the Auditorium Theatre. He also earned a scholarship
to train with Joel Hall Dancers & Center.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 grow up in a privileged household where I could get the proper training that could have almost secured a career for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 somebody that had to fight to find every free program. I recognize more now than I did back then that I was training with masters. I was trying to find my place in the industry. I wasn鈥檛 the ideal body type for what they were expecting a dancer to be. I came out in my lifestyle when I was a sophomore in high school. But we鈥檙e talking about the mid-鈥�90s. It was not the most gay-friendly time to grow up, but there鈥檚 something that powers you when you find your gift, and dancing was my power, even through the bullying or the humiliation or the doubts.鈥�
Cruz said it was surreal to become a featured dancer in the 2021 movie In the Heights, a film based on the musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda that follows the life of a Dominican bodega owner and members of New York鈥檚 Washington Heights community as they pursue their dreams while grappling with identity, love and belonging.
鈥淚t was electrifying,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was almost like you and your friends were going to the best block party in the neighborhood, and you get to show all this love that you have for your music and your culture. We were on the streets of Washington Heights, and we were telling our stories through dance. It was a huge moment.鈥�
When asked when he knew he had made it big, Cruz laughed and said he has always tried to maintain a level of humility because he remembers where he came from and that he鈥檚 reached a point in his career where he wants to give back.
鈥淛ust being able to dance around Chicago, to me, that was a big break,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen I got to get on a stage where the Joffrey Ballet performed, at 18 years old, at that point in my life, that felt like the biggest thing that could have ever happen. I got to tour Europe when I was 23. When you grow up in some of the places we grow up in, you don鈥檛 think these things are attainable. That鈥檚 why I like to share my story. It鈥檚 to remind people that when you put a little bit of discipline behind the things you love, you can do it.鈥�
91制片厂 is celebrating National HSI Week with a slate of events for the first time. HSIs are colleges or universities with an undergraduate enrollment of at least 25% Hispanic students. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education designated 91制片厂 a Hispanic-Serving Institution and awarded the college federal funding to establish an HSI program. The program鈥檚 focus is on enhancing educational programming and student support services in a culturally responsive way for Latine and other underrepresented students, though all students will benefit. Latine students make up approximately 30% of 91制片厂鈥檚 total enrollment.
HSI Program Director Pete Almeida said the HSI program strives to create an increased sense of belonging for 91制片厂 students.
鈥淲e want 91制片厂 to be a part of the celebration of cultures,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he HSI program is specifically designed to provide all students with a space where they can feel a sense of belonging. We can affirm their cultures. We can affirm where they鈥檙e at in their educational journey as a first-time college student or first-generation student. We want to help those students understand that 91制片厂 is their new family, that we鈥檙e going to embrace them, share with them all the resources that we have on campus and ensure that they understand how to navigate college at a higher level.鈥�
Almeida said a peer-to-peer mentoring program and a financial wellness program are in development, and that 91制片厂鈥檚 HSI program supports a variety of existing programs.
鈥淭he value of being an HSI is in our framework of serving and belonging, which goes a long way with students who may feel like they don鈥檛 belong or that they will be able to do it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen we serve and let students know they belong, rates of enrollment and completion will increase, all for the betterment of our population of students across this area.鈥�