On Sept. 30, the Student Farmworker Alliance (SFA) hosted its annual Viva La Independencia event with two other Latin student organizations: the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) and Salseros, a Latin dancing organization.
SFA started this event to celebrate Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 15. As time went on, they thought it best to include a celebration for all the Latin American countries that celebrate their independence throughout this month, not just Mexico.
“We decided to kind of have this event right in the middle of the Hispanic Heritage Month to highlight those Independence Days, especially like the ones that aren’t really spoken of like, Nicaragua, Chile, Costa Rica,” SFA President Atzimba Torres-Padilla said.
It might seem strange at first that a student organization promoting farmworkers is so heavily involved in Hispanic culture. However, most of SFA’s members are Hispanic.
“Farm workers actually consist of a large population of Hispanics, primarily Hispanics and then as well as Haitians and African Americans,” Torres-Padilla said.
SFA has collaborated with LASO for a few years now on this event, but this is the first year that Salseros has been involved.
“We want to try and get our own members to be more aware of the other organizations here on campus that they aren’t already aware of,” Torres-Padilla said. “Just kind of make a more unified community of like, not just Hispanics, but other demographics.”
The main focus of Salseros is Latin dancing. At their meetings, they teach attendees how to dance in the salsa, bachata and merengue styles of dance.
“Latin dancing is really important to the Latin community because it kind of helps, like, come together and celebrate and have fun,” Salseros President Isabel Ramirez said. “And it’s also been very integrated in the culture from many, many years ago.”
While Ramirez is passionate about Salseros now, it took her a while to warm up to it before she became president.
“I remember I was so shy going in, like, I didn’t know anyone there. I only had one friend, but I was so nervous when I showed up. But then everybody was so nice and encouraging, and then I just fell in love with it,” Ramirez said.
There were many activities coordinated for the success of this event including a Jeopardy game on Hispanic countries celebrating their independence, dance lessons taught by Salseros and free food from the Farmer’s Corn.
“My favorite part was honestly the salsa dance. I thought it was fun, it was different. I had never been to an event and they’ve done something like that before,” Isaiah Scott, a student who attended the event, said.
The goal of this event from all organizations was to increase cultural appreciation and awareness among people from all cultural backgrounds, not just Hispanics.
“I know sometimes being first generation or being the first time living away from home, it’s hard for you to find a community on campus. So we try to host these events so we can invite people out here, not just so that you learn more about your own heritage, but as well as branch out to other heritages,” Torres-Padilla said.
Scott is a part of the Black Student Alliance (BSA) and was at the event to support a friend on the Executive Board of SFA.
“I liked how they were all together, it was like a community,” Scott said. “I feel like it’s important to learn about other cultures that I’m not a part of or someone else is not a part of.”
The presidents of these clubs want students to know that culture is important to share and that they have a safe space within their organizations.
“Some students don’t really grow up in an environment where they can express their culture or share it, and sometimes they might not want to when they’re older,” Ramirez said. “And so I feel like it’s very important for people to kind of participate in that whenever they can.”
“By coming to this event, they’re not just learning about the Independence Days, but they also learn about our organization, and they’re more willing to open up and step out of their comfort zone and be more culturally competent,” Torres-Padilla said.
