Los Locos is ‘Revamping Everything’: An Interview with Los Locos President Laticia Lonon

What exactly is Los Locos?

Direct translation: The Crazies. Los Locos is the school spirit organization of the University of San Francisco. So basically I like to think that we encompass what it means to be a Don. Just having passion, and some pride in your school. We obviously spend a lot of time with Athletics, but more than that, just school spirit in general, being proud of the school you go to and supporting your peers.

What do you do as Los Locos President?

Los Locos president just oversees all that is Los Locos. This summer, for example, I ordered all the cool stuff we’re going to hand out and the stuff for the events we’re planning. We also taught GO Team the fight song and just…if Los Locos is in it, I’m in it.

Why do you think that’s important?

I think it’s important because one, it can be fun. It’s a fun thing. And you know, we all chose to go to this school. It’s fun and easy to harp on all the bad stuff; the overpriced food in the Caf, and like, going up LoMo is the worst thing that can happen when you’re making your schedule, but at the end of the day this is one thing we all share, and once we have our degrees it’s going to be the thing that binds us all together. If you aren’t proud of your school I’m not sure why you chose to attend there, so I think it’s an important, overall good feeling, camaraderie with people who go to your school.

What are your goals for the upcoming year? 

Los Locos is revamping everything. If you didn’t notice us before, you definitely will this year. We added more events, we’re having more tailgates before games, we have our classic Green and Gold Day coming up right at the beginning of the school year.

What happens at Green and Gold Day?

Green and Gold Day is our tie-dye event. So if you are complaining that you don’t have enough school spirit stuff, if you show up to Gleeson Plaza we will have tie-dye and t-shirts — you don’t even need to bring a t-shirt — and you can tie-dye it green and gold. So for upcoming soccer, volleyball, basketball — all the upcoming games — you’ll have some green and gold to wear.

What changes are you hoping to see?

We’re going to be more of a presence on campus really. Because I think it’s pretty important to support your school in all aspects, and sports is a fun avenue to do it through. Yeah, I just want us to be a presence on campus — I want you to see me and be like “Oh yeah, that’s the president of Los Locos! I don’t remember her name or anything, but I remember her wearing that outfit, the green and gold.” I spent a small fortune at the bookstore, so I have a lot of outfits now, all my getups.

What’s your favorite sport to go crazy at?

Freshman year it was definitely basketball, but last year I had a lot of fun going to volleyball games. I’ve played a lot of sports, but volleyball…I didn’t know as much about it. And then I was going to the games and I realized it was a lot of fun. I was learning more about it; it was a lot of fun to watch. The players themselves are hecklers as well, so it was fun to join in with them on the cheers and stuff.

What do you want to see USF students doing differently this year?

Like I said, basketball is definitely the forefront of the athletic department. It’s what they advertise and whatnot, but you know, you get free tickets to every home game. There’s men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s basketball — they need some love. Come springtime there’s baseball, baseball had an excellent season this last year, made it to NCAA, you can go and cheer them on. I am personally on the track team, not a very watchable sport necessarily…but as an athlete — they love the sport and they’ll play it anyway — but it does feel good to know you have supporters.

Can you describe to me what is going to happen at a tailgate?

Yeah, so this is the first year we are doing these as officially Los Locos. Basically, before the game we’ll have food, maybe some sort of spirit competition, some raffles, some face painting, mostly just getting jazzed up for the game to come.

And it’s all free?

Of course it’s free. For my fellow Dons…anything you want!