A room full of freshmen and returning students shared two things in common: they had all gathered to share both their heritage and a meal.
More than 85 people gathered at La Casa Latino Cultural Center on Wednesday night for its new student welcome dinner.
This is considered a yearly tradition for the center.
Deisy Lopez, a second year graduate student and La Casa’s graduate assistant, described the center as “a home away from home.” Lopez, whose role involves serving as a liaison between graduate students and the center and planning big events sponsored by the center, got her first job at La Casa.
“It was a place where I felt like I belonged,” Lopez said. “With as massive as an institution as IU is, you have to be able to find a place where you fit in.”
The staff and student volunteers at the center are committed to making this spirit of belonging ring true for all those who come to the center, Lopez said.
Lillian Casillas, who has served as director of La Casa for 21 years, works to diversify the programs she oversees for the center.
“We have professional development programs, events for learning about the Latino community and social events, like tonight,” Casillas said. “Some people like to learn about Latino culture through discussions, some like to watch films. Everyone has different interests, so we want to include all of them.”
Part of engaging this diversity of interests means that La Casa offers multiple programs within the center, Casillas said.
“We serve as an umbrella organization for the student population,” Lopez said. “La Casa is the first face they see, but then they get involved in other groups.”
Some of these organizations include Latino sororities and fraternities that are part of IU’s Multicultural Greek Council.
IU junior Mayra Meza serves as the chapter secretary for Sigma Lambda Upsilon.
This organization has a large focus on community service and empowerment for women and the Latino community.
This sorority, like La Casa itself, stresses though they are Latino oriented, they are by no means Latino exclusive, Meza said.
“My favorite thing is when I can teach someone something about my culture or background they may not have ever known if they had not come to us,” Meza said.
La Casa also sponsors a mentoring and tutoring program between members of La Casa and high school students.
This is a program for minority students in science and research, with an association for Latino professionals in finance and accounting.
Representatives of these organizations spoke briefly about their work for the new students in attendance before dinner was served to the group.
Gerardo Rodriguez and Kevin Mejia were two of the freshmen that attended the event.
“I’m Mexican, so it just seemed natural to come and want to learn more about it,” Mejia said.
Rodriguez said that he had read somewhere that there is only a very small percentage of students at IU this current academic year that are Hispanic.
“My parents are immigrants, and it’s very important to me to make sure my heritage stays intact,” Rodriguez said.
Senior Diana Salas was a volunteer at the event who had gotten involved in the center at the welcome dinner during her own freshman year.
“What La Casa and tonight’s dinner are really about is embracing and learning new things about our heritage, and having a taste of everyone’s culture coming together,” Salas said.
