Michaela Woodward – Staff Writer
Originally from Burnsville, Minnesota, Senior Ron Romero has found a second home in Gustavus and through his time and experiences here has been inspired to see more of the world.
Romero is a Psychology and Music double major who has sung with the Gustavus Choir since his first year on campus. Touring with the choir has been a highlight for Romero these past four years.
“This last J-term we went to Europe – Spain, France, and Italy, and that was honestly one of the best trips of my entire life,” Romero said.
Even though Romero is involved in Choir at Gustavus, his journey in music started in band, when he played the clarinet in fifth grade. Then, he taught himself bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, bassoon, piano, and guitar. Bassoon was the instrument that stuck, and he played it through his senior year of high school.
“I’ve always been a huge music nerd,” Romero said.
The ability to be involved in music was one of the things that drew Romero to Gustavus.
“The possibility of playing and singing was facilitated here at Gustavus and I really liked that about here because other places you can’t really do both,” Romero said.
As a first-generation college student, Romero was looking for a school that would best support him and invest in his success.
“I had been looking at a few schools and Gustavus just seemed the most interested in me, the most invested in them wanting me to be here. I came and toured and I just fell in love with the place. I really appreciated that it’s a small campus and I wanted to be at a place where I wasn’t just a number. I wanted to make an impact and actually have a place here,” Romero said.
Romero has found his place on campus, through the people he has met and the organizations he is a part of.
“I’m very grateful about the experience I’ve had here with my roommate and my friend group, that we all met. We kind of all met before freshman year. There’s like this week that first-generation students were invited on campus for [the] GAIN program, so I met a few people there. And then one of them ended up being my roommate for all four years,” Romero said.
Romero has served as the treasurer for OLAS for the past two years, an experience that has helped him foster a sense of community on campus.
“It’s been a pleasure to serve as the treasurer for two years now. It’s a great space to be with other students that share similar backgrounds with me. It has just been an honor to represent the only org that is for Latin American students that’s here on campus. I think one of our biggest missions is just to get the word out to other students because I don’t think that a ton of incoming freshman students really know what it is or what we do. It’s really just a safe place and a fun one-hour break on Thursday evenings at 8 pm that we just go and hang out and listen to music and talk about our events and play games,” Romero said.
Romero also appreciates that OLAS facilitates celebrating diversity on campus and in the Latinx community.
“Another thing about OLAS that’s really close to me is, I’m not Mexican, and I think the predominance of Latinos here are Mexican and so I’m part of the little minority that’s not Mexican. My parents are both from El Salvador, they’re immigrants. And that’s been a huge part of my identity. I always want to spread awareness that there are other countries out there too, and people from those other countries are also here and just being able to represent my flag proudly is one of my biggest goals, too, and just in life,” Romero said.
Romero is currently working with OLAS to plan Latinx Night on April 14th, where there will be a selection of food, music, and performers celebrating different Latin American countries.
Additionally, Romero is a member of the Kappa Sigma Chi Fraternity and serves as the Co-President of the Inter-Greek Council with Senior Gabby Lavan.
“[Romero] is an exceptionally wonderful person who you cannot help but feel comfortable with. He has a knack for connecting people through his captivating personality and presence. Not only is he great to be around, but he’s also incredibly impressive. Ron is involved in so many different ways on campus. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Ron as Co-Presidents for the Inter-Greek Council where I learned what a great leader he is. He’s funny, has a beautiful singing voice, and is overall an amazing person,” Lavan said.
“We strive to make [Greek Life] an environment where everyone wants to be a part of. I genuinely think there is a place for everyone in Greek Life here at Gustavus. If you’re thinking about it you should definitely go try it out and check out some chapters because there are some great people here,” Romero said.
In the future, Romero hopes to go to graduate school for psychology after traveling and working for a few years. His advice to Gusties is to not be afraid to try new things.
“Get out of your comfort zone and try new things because your time here is short and it goes really fast. You’ll blink and then you’re a senior in your spring semester. I’ve met some great people just from like trying new things, going to different clubs or organizations and it’s been a really great experience for me because I genuinely think that a lot of the Gusties here are really welcoming and want you to be at their club or whatever it is because at the end of the day, we are like a family here. We’re all here to support each other,” Romero said.