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Students at Earle B. Wood Middle School got a taste of Latin culture last week during a symposium to honor Hispanic Heritage Month.

On Wednesday and Thursday at the top of each hour, students in social studies classes listened to 12 presenters from the community speak about their heritage, background, careers and what it is like to be Latin American.

The visitors ranged from Chick Hernandez, a Silver Spring native who was the inaugural anchor for Comcast SportsNet in 2001, to Candace Kattar, co-founder and executive director of Identity, an organization that works with Latino youths and their families.

Maritza Rivera Cohen, director for the Charles W. Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity in Wheaton and the parent of two Wood alumni, returned to the Aspen Hill school Thursday to share her poetry with students.

A native of Puerto Rico, Cohen told students she has been writing poetry in both English and Spanish for more than 40 years. She has been published in literary magazines, anthologies and online publications.

She shared seven poems with the students and told them stories of her native land. One poem she recently wrote called "Mango Soup" details how her mother, who still lives in Puerto Rico, sends her mangoes each year, but they always get a little squished along the way. Even so, Cohen always tells her good-hearted mother the fruit arrive in perfect condition.

The Rockville resident also encouraged students to try their hand at poetry.

"Poetry can be as short or long as you'd like to make it," Cohen said, adding that writing poetry is a good outlet for creativity.

The symposium concluded Friday with students giving presentations on Hispanic history and heritage in their social studies classes.

Vasilia Hangemanole, a seventh-grader, and a classmate gave a presentation that wove together facts about El Salvador, Peru, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Edward Hidalgo, the first Hispanic to serve as U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

"I feel like I learned more this way than the teachers just teaching us stuff," the 11-year-old Rockville resident said after finishing her presentation. "I also enjoyed learning about other countries besides the United States."

Nicole Kline, an eighth-grader, followed with a brief history of Los Angeles from the 18th century to the present.

"It was really fun," the 13-year-old Rockville resident said. "I got to learn a lot of new stuff about people and places."

Jeffrey Shaw, who organized the event and chairs the social studies department, said he and his fellow history teachers wanted to devise an interesting and creative event for students in the fall. He suggested putting together a symposium and linking it to Hispanic Heritage Month.

"Hispanic Heritage Month is from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and we thought this was one way we could honor Hispanic heritage in the United States," he said.

Jeanie Dawson, principal of Wood, said 31 percent of the school's students are Hispanic.

"The importance of the symposium is culturally that we're honoring the diversity within our school and meeting the contents of the curriculum," she said. "It also gives our students a chance to see themselves in history as well as the ability to have real-life relevant experiences within the learning environment."