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Arroz con pollo anyone? Empanadas con carne, alfajores or churros? How about some inspiring Latin poetry, or a little salsa music to get your hips swinging and your toes tapping? University of Maine students, faculty and area residents came together last Friday night to do just that, celebrate Latino Heritage for the ninth consecutive year.
Blue, green and yellow streamers, balloons and confetti gave the party a little flare, while revelers dined on Latin cuisine and were entertained by songs and speeches.
After Interim Director of Multicultural Programs Jose Cordero and Latin American Student Association President Ana-Ramona Gilbert welcomed the audience, Spanish students read selections from great Spanish-speaking poets such as Chillean-born Pablo Neruda and Mexican-born Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz.
A few technical difficulties had to be worked out, but in good humor LASO members Jessica Cancel and Nestor Gonzalez serenaded the audience with “No Me Ames,” a song by Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez about the pain and regret of love.
Dr. Robert Dana, dean of students wowed the audience beginning his speech with a introduction in Spanish he later admitted to receiving a little help with. Dana reminded students that though this event was a great celebration they must never forget to celebrate their heritage the other 364 days of the year in “Latin thinking and thought.”
Dana mentioned influential persons of Latino descent from the “Queen of Salsa” Celia Cruz to UMaine’s very own assistant director of campus activities for student organizations and Greek Life, Gustavo Burkett.
Traditionally the event is held in late September, early October as part of an unofficial Latino Heritage celebration month, according to Cordero. Important events in Latino culture like el Dia de Los Muertos and Mexican independence occur in the fall and UMaine’s event is a culmination of those celebrations. The dinner and dance is usually the capstone to other Latino celebration events and educational programs.
“The attendance part is the easiest part,” Gilbert said. “Everyone loves this event.” Funding however, is a different story, and this year LASO couldn’t go through with plans as usual and the celebration was delayed until funds were made available this spring due to funding issues with Student Government.
Ultimately the timing of the event worked out well as Operation Breaking Stereotypes was able to attend the event. OBS, a group of students from Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy from the Bronx in New York City on exchange with another group from Orono High School, made the event a part of their tour of the UMaine campus this weekend.
The event “gives students a snapshot as to what life is like at the University of Maine as a student of color,” Cordero said. It is good, clean, healthy fun, on-campus, well-intentioned and for an educational purpose, as well as being fun, he said. “Culture should be fun, and diversity should be fun.”
Cordero estimates that around 15 students of color have come to UMaine through participation in the OBS program in the past three years, and are a value to the diversity program as these are “students that come that know the community [at UMaine] better,” as opposed to other students of color who might not have ever visited the campus.
LASO with a record membership of 22 students this year is working hard to further diversity awareness programs. They will be attending the New England for Latino Student Leadership conference April 7 and 8 at Dartmouth College, and have been part of UMaine’s effort in reaching out to Mexican migrant workers living in the state. All are welcome to participate in LASO, which meets on Saturday afternoons at 3 p.m. For more information, contact LASO President Ana-Ramona Gilbert on FirstClass.
Bangor Daily News