Allison Ringold
Staff Writer
Just like any other personal label, the words “Hispanic” and “Latinx” have a lot of meaning behind them. National Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, seeks to celebrate these labels and everything they represent. According to the Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) event coordinator, Aileen Garcia ’23, “To me, this month is all about embracing & celebrating our culture as well as sharing it with others so they understand more about where we come from and what it means to us.”
Latinx Night sought to do just that. The event, hosted by The Underground (UG) and planned by Fernanda Banuelos ’24 of OLAS in collaboration with members of Latinas Unidas (LU), was a lively success. “We had a lot of people there and it was overall just an amazing time,” said Garcia. “Everyone was dancing and having fun, despite it being on a Wednesday. Our main goal is to share our culture with others on campus and I feel as though this was a great way to do it!”
“My favorite part was all the dancing!” said Garcia. “One thing about me is that I am a terrible dancer but that night was as if that didn’t matter, it was just such an overwhelmingly happy feeling seeing everyone come together and put everything aside and just enjoy themselves.”
“The event wasn’t a packed event where we were at max capacity, but it was an event where the people who did come to hang out stayed all night and had an amazing time dancing and enjoying the music,” remembered Giuliana Morales ’23, Latinas Unidas’ Vice President of Communication. “I think my favorite part of the event was watching the rush of people coming and automatically dancing to the music. I kept hearing people calling their friends to come because it was getting very lively.”
Looking towards the future, Morales hopes that Latinx culture will continue to be celebrated. “It is important to have events like this in Wooster because it creates a place of inclusivity within the Wooster community that is specifically targeted for Latinx people, and to have non-Latinx people understand our culture and appreciate an aspect of it through music,” explained Morales. “It is also important because it allows Latinx people to have freedom of expression and pride for their culture and its music.”
Similarly, Garcia hopes that this event will be held again next year. “I think it’s important to have events like these because it really helps in bringing the Latinx community together. It also allows us to share our beautiful culture with others which is really important to us,” she said. “We would love to see this become a tradition or at least a recurring event; it really helped kick things off and set the tone for events we have coming up and honestly, it was just really nice seeing people come together to dance and enjoy some good music.”