It’s Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, and the Latino Student Union wants to share about the upcoming month and how to get involved in the club’s activities and goals.
We are really focusing on celebrating the different cultures within Latin America at all our events.
— Fernando Daza
“We create events and celebrate the diversity of Latin American culture and countries,” said Angelica Garcia-Ponce, sophomore social work major a LSU student leader.
For Garcia-Ponce, LSU was the perfect opportunity to delve into the goal she wanted to accomplish from high school. As her school’s Spanish Club president, she wanted to create an environment where other Latino students felt at home. However, Garcia-Ponce’s plans to name the club “Latino Student Union” were shut down by her high school.
“That’s what I wanted it to be,” Garcia-Ponce said. “But our school didn’t allow us to have that name, because they said that ‘Latino’ was too violent.”
In addition to creating a supportive atmosphere for students, LSU has new plans for the upcoming year.
Last year, LSU often centered their events around Mexican culture. This year, following some helpful feedback from a member, LSU has decided to create a more diverse atmosphere by branching out and centering their events around other Hispanic cultures.
Fernando Daza, a junior double major in business and peace, justice and conflict studies, said, “This year, we’re trying something new, we are really focusing on celebrating the different cultures within Latin America at all our events.
“Each event we host is going to highlight a specific country, so people can get a real feel for its unique traditions and vibe. Our goal is to bring everyone together and create a space where we can learn from each other and appreciate the diversity that makes our community here at Goshen College so special.”
However, LSU also wishes to maintain tradition in its events and meetings.
Although some things will be different compared to previous years, many things will remain the same to give the club a level of comfort and security.
“I think there’s a few events that will be slightly different, but most of them we will replicate because we also want to create a tradition for the LSU, and I think that the union has created some expectation in that area,” said Garza Gonzalez.
If you are interested in getting involved with LSU, there are several ways you can do so. First, you can simply attend the events and meetings.
Garza Gonzalez said that LSU is available to any student at Goshen College. Any student is welcome to join their club and events, even if they have no Hispanic heritage.
“[The events] are not exclusively for Latinos. They’re hosted and organized by Latino students, but they’re really open to anyone who’s interested or who wants to join,” Garza Gonzalez said.
There are a few opportunities to get involved in the upcoming weeks. On September 18, LSU hosted a convocation in which volunteers of LSU put on performances like dancing, singing and poetry to entertain and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. After the convocation, they held their annual ice cream event, where they provided paletas from La Tropicana to any student who attended.
A few LSU-sponsored activities coming up are a movie night, game night and piñata building and destroying. Announcements advertising these events will be posted soon.
Garcia-Ponce, looking forward to the year ahead, said, “Every month we are going to hold an event … we try to make it so that residential and commuter students will have some type of middle ground where the time of events are concerned. This year will be different and more inclusive.”
