Oct. 3--In his oversized black baseball cap, T-shirt and jeans, 9-year-old Paul Morelos danced to the Cha-Cha Slide, adding his own hip-hop touches by nodding his head to the side and throwing his arms out front when he jumped.

"I'm mostly pretty good," Morelos said of his dancing style. "Dancing is the most exciting experience in my life."

Morelos was just one of the many who came to the Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month:

Health and Education Fair at Parkwood Elementary Thursday evening.

The event had free Hispanic style food, music of all styles and about a dozen booths focused on education and health issues.

"It's cool!" Breanna Martin, 10, said. "It's like representing the [Hispanic] families with like the food and stuff."

Her best friend, Keyara Curry, 11, is part Hispanic. She came to have fun, but said she learned about her culture too.

"I learned how the food and drinks taste," Curry said.

The idea came about after people from Clark Memorial Hospital and Clark County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Coalition approached Greater Clark County Schools about having something to recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month.

"It also gives us an opportunity to share information about some of the resources that are out there to the Hispanic community," said Dana Nieman, assistant coordinator for the coalition. "We also wanted to kind of get a tradition started, because there's not a lot that goes on here for National Hispanic Heritage Month."

Principal Janice Korfhage said the school worked together for the event, with students making decorations and some teachers volunteering to work at the fair.

Meghan Tetley, who teaches third-grade, said she came to support her ESL, or English as a second language, students.

"I think it's fun," she said. "It's brought the kids out and is allowing them to do something fun with their teachers."

Korfhage said she's happy with this year's turnout.

"We have a nice crowd and I think there's a lot of good information for the people who come," she said. "I think it'll grow too in the future."

Korfhage and Nieman said they hope to make this an annual event.

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