Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated every year from September 15 - October 15th.  These dates are significant as the Independence anniversaries of five Latin American countries:  Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.  The independence celebrations of Mexico, Belize, and Chile also fall within this period.

This is an important opportunity to recognize the many contributions of the Hispanic/Latino community to the development of the United States, as well as celebrate and honor the rich history, culture, and traditions of these resilient groups of people.

Below are a few websites to help get you started -- please feel free to add any websites you like, and share your thoughts and inspirations on celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month this September!

http://www.hispanicheritagemonth.org/

http://www.nclr.org/

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/resource_library/hispanic_resources.html

Read more about Rajashree's research here... 

The History of Labor Day

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

• Learn more about the founder of Labor Day

• Tests that were originally developed for research and were not made commercially available.

• A growing selection of multilingual test instruments.

• Information about select tests that are available from commercial test publishers.

• Nearly 57,000 historical documents
• More than 80,000 biographies of historical figures
• More than 1,990 full-text reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books
• Nearly 46,000 historical photos & maps
• More than 80 hours of historical video

The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program encourages undergraduate students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers by providing research experiences at the Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories. Selected students participate as interns appointed at one of 15 participating DOE laboratories. They perform research, under the guidance of laboratory staff scientists or engineers, on projects supporting the DOE mission.

The SULI program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) in collaboration with the DOE laboratories.

Applications for the SULI program are solicited annually for three separate internship terms. Internship appointments are 10 weeks in duration for the Summer Term (May through August) or 16 weeks in duration for the Fall (August through December) and Spring (January through May) Terms. Each DOE laboratory offers different research opportunities; not all DOE laboratories offer internships during the Fall and Spring Terms.