Celebrating Latinx Night

Celebrating Latinx Night

In case you thought that free food is a rare event on campus – think again! One of my roommates and I went to Latinx Night recently, an alliance of many of the Latinx-oriented organizations on campus, from Latin American Student Organization, to Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc., (the Latina-oriented sorority), to Alpha Psi Lambda Fraternity Inc. (our only co-ed Greek organization on campus focusing on the Latinx community; neither of them are exclusive to just Latinx students!), to Organization Smile, a group dedicated to raising money to help children get cleft-palate surgery. They had free food from Cafecito, a very popular Cuban sandwiches location and tamales, brought by Alpha Psi Lambda’s members who couldn’t make it to the event.

I always enjoy events hosted in the Damen Den – for one, there are couches to sit and lounge on, and two; it’s such a nice, central location, right in the middle of campus so everybody can meet at it. I have friends who are involved in all of the organizations, so it was really good to be able to see them all. For some of them to see that I was friends with their friends, we’re just a big interconnected circle of friends, made us all laugh! But that says a lot about Loyola student culture. We’re neither small nor large, so walking to class you typically see one friend for every thirty strangers (or so). But we do see our friends! Even if we don’t get time to catch up, my day is always brightened by passing them by and saying hi. It’s the same with social functions!

 

  Here’s a picture of the sisters of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. – I have pictures of their performance of a traditional salute, as it’s called, but it doesn’t quite do them justice.

At Latinx Night, after some time of eating and listening to fun music, the treasurer and one of the presidents of Latin American Student Organization took the stage to give each organization time to introduce themselves. The highlight of the organizations was seeing Lambda Theta Alpha perform their traditional ‘salute’, a way of introducing themselves and their organization, as well as a little bit of their organization’s history and values, in a performative way that compels you to watch. I can’t wait to see more events from these organizations in the future – they’re always a good time! Although I’m not Latinx myself, it was totally inclusive and open to everyone. Loyola students come from all backgrounds and are going to all sorts of different futures, but we’re united in our values and our love for the community around us.

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