Latinas Unidas and the Latine Undergraduate Network for Activists (LUNA) are two Latine focused cultural clubs on campus aimed at creating a space for Latine identifying students as well as the greater USF community with an interest in Latine culture.
These cultural organizations aim to give members a space of familiarity and connection as they navigate their college experience at USF.
“Your involvement with LUNA can be as much or as little as you want and can handle. All of our e-board works, has classes and are a part of LUNA. If you can’t come to general meetings and come to our events we still consider you a part of LUNA, you’re still a part of our family,” said LUNA president, Metzli Lemus.
“LUNA and Latinas Unidas’ e-boards had a conversation of how [we could] continue to broaden our connection as the only two Latine organizations on campus, and how [we can] use that together and bring that space for [the] Latine community,” said Latinas Unidas President and senior politics major, Diana Silva-Corral.
“For me [being Latine] identifies with just being proud […] being Latina specifically it is wearing my culture with pride and being like I was born here but my ancestors and family, all the people that raised me into the person that I am today are from our hometown of Mexico,” said Lemus, a junior critical diversity studies major.
She added, “That’s what’s so amazing about it to me. It’s not just an identity and like of course I align with all these different values and cultural aspects of being Latina but it’s also just like wearing it with pride and being like I am here this is who I am, this who my family is and who they raised me to be.”
The organization’s e-boards collaborated to start an annual Latine Heritage Celebration (LHC) event three years ago and have continued to host it each year. This event is an opportunity for Latinas Unidas, LUNA, staff, faculty and the USF community to come together and celebrate their Latine identity.
This year’s student-led event, which took place on Sept. 21, was funded by donations from the sociology department, critical diversity studies department, cultural centers and ASUSF.
“You should have seen us putting everything together. Some of our decorations didn’t arrive, we had to move this and I had to run there and it was that crazy […] it is a very intentional and genuine process to bring this event together,” said Silva-Corral.
Event organizers aimed to create an opportunity for students to find a sense of belonging and community with those who have similar cultural backgrounds but diverse stories.
“It was definitely one of the best years for LHC. It was such a great turnout. We were so happy with all the moments and just seeing everyone so happy we ran out of food [and] had to put extra tables and seats because people were standing around. That warms our hearts, you know because each year we continue making progress,” said Silva-Corral.
The celebration opened with a performance from Grupo Calmecac, a group of traditional Aztec dancers including Lemus, who had the opportunity to perform with her family. Their opening performance and blessing laid the foundation for the rest of the scheduled events.
“They did a really beautiful job at opening up the space after our land acknowledgement,” said Latinas Unidas member and sophomore communications major, Sofi Pardo.
In addition to the performance, USF staff and students shared conversations over pupusas, conchas and agua frescas. The combination of dancing, talking and eating together is a highly valued ritual in the Latine community, and is a way love and connection is expressed within the culture.
“We laugh about things that maybe folks in other cultures don’t really get but we have a shared sense of community. That’s really beautiful to see and especially being away from home,” said Lemus.
“It was really fun to dance with the [Latinas Unidas] e-board and [the] LUNA e-board. I think the dancing part was [a] time for us to have fun because I was working the event. It was really nice to just let our hair down and sort of enjoy the celebration for ourselves, ” said Pardo.
Aside from the celebratory aspect of the event, it was important to both boards that the attendees had the opportunity to hear about important topics that affect the Latine community and give these individuals a moment to connect but also learn about self advocacy.
USF Center for Academic and Student Achievement (CASA) coach Ester Marquez-Perez spoke about the importance of mental health within the culture and how the Latine community may connect with their mental health in different ways than some other cultural groups on campus. In addition, politics professor Marco Durazo, discussed Latine culture in higher education.
“It’s really refreshing to hear from their perspectives and that space that we also share, you know, yes to celebrate our culture but also a time to reflect together on why we are celebrating Latine Heritage Month, in what ways can we celebrate it and how to stay connected with our roots.” said Silva.
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