The Latino Impact Club provides an environment for their members to feel at home. It is a safe space for all students to connect with the Latino Culture. They meet each Wednesday at 6:00 pm in Hoke Hall 305 as well as other various events and activities that keep the Latino community and their allies connected to each other. The opportunities for the development of friendship and collaboration are available throughout the school year.
The Latino Club President, Luli Torres, describes her first experience shopping in La Grande, “I am used to seeing a grocery store full of people like me; I feel weird only seeing one Mexican aisle.” She states that “just being involved in this club has made me appreciate my Latino Community.”
One of the popular Latino events that students have done in the past was to reach out to the club members and the community is Loteria Night. Torres says, “I love having Loteria Night. Being away from home, this game makes me feel closer to home.” Torres also described another activity, Karaoke Nights, “to immerse people into Mexican music.” All of the club activities are intended to create a broader community that can connect with Latino culture.
The Latino Impact Club treasurer, Fatima Sanchez, is a first-generation college student and a senior who is studying pre-nursing and communication. She states, “I like anything to do with diversity. I got involved because my roommate invited me.” Her favorite memory “has been taking part in the International Student Association.” She participated “by showing off her Central American culture with traditional dresses and advertising the club’s own dishes of different types of tacos.”
As of 2018, La Grande has the following racial/ethnic mix: 85.4% Caucasian, 6.5% Hispanic, and 3.2% for two or more other groups. Torres states that “I have to make [my ethnicity] a part of my identity to prove a point.” She further states that the Latino Impact Club is “diverse, and actually a community. And as minorities, we are not less as people.”
