Nico Rivera
Features Editor
On Sunday, Sept. 28, Latinas Unidas (LU) threw their first event celebrating Latinx Heritage Month on the academic quad. The celebration ran through the evening as students relaxed outside and listened to music with food, drinks and snacks.
President of LU, Andrea Peralta Villa ’27, explained that this event was part of a broader effort by LU to collaborate with the College so they can put on cultural events with more resources. “I know it started because the school didn’t really have any events for Latinx Heritage Month…this year luckily we had the Center for Belonging and Intercultural Dialogue (CBID) help us. We’re getting support from the school which I think is amazing,” said Villa.
There was a wide variety of options on the menu at the event. Cultural dishes included bean and cheese, and pork and cheese pupusas, a dish that originated among the ancient Mesoamerican peoples of modern-day El Salvador and Honduras. Also provided were steak and chicken tacos, as well as vegetarian quesadillas with toppings such as cilantro, diced onion and fresh lime wedges. Along with the food, LU prepared jugs of horchata, fruit cups, Mexican candy, flour chicharrones (typically fried pork rinds) and a variety of Jarritos, a Mexican fruit-flavored soft drink. Villa mentioned that the food was catered by El Cerrito, a Salvadorean-Mexican restaurant in Orrville, Ohio. Villa explained, “Usually, we try to get catered from local Hispanic restaurants to give back to the community, but it also helps us because there’s only so much we can do as an organization.” Bruna Jatobá ’27, the vice president of development for LU, mentioned the help that CBID provided, “[CBID] offered to help us out with funding and everything, so we managed to get the catering and do all the decorations…It was pretty fun.” Alongside the food and drinks, LU hung up a piñata filled with a variety of Latin American candy for students to take opportunities to swing at.
“Latinas Unidas really want to make [LU] like an open community, make everybody feel really welcome, and they’ve done a really good job with that,” said Izzy Drake ’28, who volunteered at the sign-in table. “I think that’s what these events bring. Everybody gets to be together and share their culture. Even the community working hard setting up for today since like 9 in the morning…there’s a lot of work put into this.”
Villa discussed how these heritage events were helping to expand the focus of the organization. “Next week we have a general assembly for Comidas Andinas which is a new event to celebrate Andean cultures, which we haven’t really done in the past…because the exec board has been predominately Mexican, that’s kind of been reflected in the food that we have and the events, so we’re trying to do something else to expand.”
For more information about Latinas Unidas, check out their Instagram @woosterlatinasunidas.