Latin American Students at Gettysburg break the mold
Photo courtesy of Latin American Students’ Association Facebookpage
By Vera Ekhator, Staff Writer
This past Thursday, Nov. 12, the Latin American Student Association (LASA) held an event at the Attic called “Latins Breaking the Mold.” During this event, Latin American students of Gettysburg College unveiled posters that revealed what the word “Latino” means to them. This event was open to all students on campus and had an impressive turn out of over 75 students.
On the wall of the Attic were a line of vibrant red posters. Each poster had a picture of a LASA member along with their definition of what being Latino(a) means to them. One poster, with all the members of LASA on the bottom, acknowledged the difficulty that Latino(a) students encounter when trying to define their identity: “As a community sometimes we struggle to define our identity because we are diverse.” The diversity of LASA’s members was more than evident through the contents of each poster. No two posters were the same, and each provided an intimate view into the Latino(a) heritage.
Emily Vega’s ’19 poster read, “Being Puerto Rican means coming home to pernil con ensalda de papa y arroz con pollo/pork with potato salad and chicken with rice every Thanksgiving,” a delicious divergence from the traditional “American” turkey and stuffing.
The poster of Marianelly Rios ’16, whose family hails from El Salvador, read, “Latinos are those of us who have got almost an electric energy running through our veins.” Her poster went on to fondly describe El Salvador’s “warm weather, crooked roads and smell of pupusas” before finishing with her desire to see El Salvador “redeemed to an unbroken state as beautiful and as strong as it’s own name.”
The posters were not the only insights into Latino(a) culture. Latin American music played in the background. There was also a food table, with food catered by Mountezuma that had yellow rice, steak, tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, enchiladas, salsa and queso.
Jasmine Santana ’16, president of LASA, stated that the goal of the event was to “bring the community together,” which it did. There in the Attic, Gettysburg students, Latino(a) and non-Latino(a) alike, were able to appreciate the beautifully diverse Latin American culture together.
