On Oct. 27, the Latino Student Alliance (LSA) hosted its annual banquet in Martin Chapel. Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) students, faculty, and community members were all in attendance. The evening was full of music, dancing, and food and included two guest speakers: Silvia Garcia Romero and Dr. Jose Ricardo-Osorio.
EMU’s LSA created the event with the hope to “educate our EMU community about Latinx culture and provide people with a celebratory environment,” said LSA Co-President Mayra Cruz. She added that it is a way to “connect students, staff, and the Harrisonburg community members” by contacting local Hispanic speakers and small businesses to provide food.
Music from DJ Guate in addition to colorful lights filled Martin Chapel as attendees made their way to their tables. The night kicked off with a traditional Hispanic meal, which included chicken or steak fajitas, Mexican rice, beans, salad, esquites, and a variety of refreshments. Tres leches cake and churro cheesecake rounded out the night’s menu.
“My favorite part of the banquet was seeing everyone dressed up,” junior Ivan Betancourt said. But he also enjoyed the food, especially the esquites.
As the night continued, Silvia Garcia-Romero, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Sentara Healthcare, took the stage to express the importance of family and identity in Latinx culture. “A special thing about Latinx culture is the respect and care we have for our family,” she said, “family plays such an important piece in our identity.”
Dr. Jose G. Ricardo-Osorio, the Interim Associate Dean in the College of Education and Human Services at Shippensburg University, was the second speaker of the night. He encouraged the audience to represent Latinx culture in a way that’s inviting and proud, saying “it’s our duty to become cultural ambassadors.”
In addition, during his talk, Ricardo-Osorio suggested that each person in the room take out their phone and make a phone call to a loved one as a way to show they are “heard, loved, and appreciated.” He emphasized how “written words do not have tones but voice conveys tone and emotion.”
As his presentation was coming to an end, he led the audience in a salsa dance lesson, instructing them step by step.
“Personally, I’m not a good dancer,” Betancourt said, “ but I think it was nice for him to teach everyone salsa and get people out of their comfort zone a little bit.” Guests continued to enjoy dancing and a photobooth throughout the rest of the night. For more information about LSA, check out their Instagram page @lsa_emu or email at lsa@emu.edu.
