Next week, Gustavus will be hosting Latinx Week.
OLAS, a student-run organization on campus, will be putting on events in order to promote and provide education on Latin culture.
The group’s mission is to inform students about Latin culture and to promote an accepting learning environment.
“The purpose of OLAS is to raise awareness and appreciation of Latin Culture and social issues through grassroots movement such as activities and fun, educational events. We do everything from hosting movie night, to dives and even major events like Latinx Night, as well as partner with other Departments, e.g Spanish Department, to inform and tear down cultural assumptions that might be present in Gustavus,” Junior Kassandra Carranza said.
OLAS has put on multiple meaningful events this year that educate students and provide fun for all.
“…we’ve done a lot this year. Including the lip sync battle, the window painting contest, and other small events. Day of the Dead was so far a big successful event. Also this year [OLAS] will be hosting Latinx Night which will be [one of]the biggest events yet,” First year Guadalupe Genis said.
This organization has also raised awareness about current events and have offered a lot to the Gustavus campus.
“We also tabled for DACA and, lastly, we have done other events concerning our way of food and tradition through [a] food tasting,” Sophomore Mayra Gurrola-Calderón said.
The week will include a variety of events including dance lessons, film and one big celebration at the end of the week to summarize all of the fun that was had.
The purpose of OLAS is to raise awareness and appreciation of Latin Culture and social issues through grassroots movements.
“We started [off] the week with Bachata [dance] lessons and later we have [a] speaker who will speak about her experiences in the Salvadoran Civil War and how that has impacted her identity here in the United States. Following that, we have bracelet making, a co-sponsorship with CAB to have a showing of Instructions Not Included and, finally, our big night- Latinx Night. I feel that with all our events we wanted to express the identity of Latin America and how it’s displayed in different ways,” Gurrola-Calderón said.
This year’s Latinx Week took quite an amount of organization and planning, considering how young the organization still is.
“I can say that because we are still a young organization, preparation I feel had an extra layer of difficulty, but this year OLAS was composed of enthusiastic and energized members which is what I feel made it manageable,” Carranza said.
Planning started back in the fall and has been being worked on since.
“We had started to plan the events I previously described during fall semester and for us that included creating committees, setting up groups, and the entire group serving as diplomats in their own academics departments to gain support and invitations to partner in other big events,” Carranza said.
Despite any hardship the organization faced during its planning time, they have rallied together and stayed committed to the experience and putting on a great week.
“Whenever [there is] planning [for] huge events there needs to be commitment and good time management. We have learned as a group what it takes,the need for conversation and planning ahead,” Gurrola-Calderón said.