By Julia Vergara | Staff Writer
Baylor’s Hispanic Student Association is hosting a university-wide week of events to reach out to new people and to celebrate over 30 years of community excellence on campus.
Events are taking place every day this week in various places across campus.
Gabriela Fierro, Houston sophomore and special events coordinator for Hispanic Student Association, said the Hispanic Student Association is happy to know they have been influencing campus for over 30 years.
“It’s a celebration of that and showing the campus that this is something we’re proud of and we want them to be a part of it as well,” Fierro said.
On Monday, Hispanic Student Association encouraged people to form new connections and interact with diverse groups through “Make-an-Amigo.” Fierro said members were handing out name tags at tables across campus. Participants wearing a name tag were asked to greet someone else wearing one, share their name and why they came to Baylor. Participants were entered in a gift card raffle by posting a picture with their “new amigo.”
Today, “Share your Cultura” will take place throughout the day on Fountain Mall. Members will be engaging with passing students to ask them about their own personal stories.
“We just want to show the campus that the Hispanic Student Association welcomes everyone on Baylor’s campus,” Fierro said. “Reaching out and just meeting someone on a basic level and then realizing that we all have our individual personalities and talents and realizing that all these diverse things about us, they all come together in a beautiful way.”
On Wednesday, Fierro said, Hispanic Student Association will be celebrating the beauty of diversity through “United through Diversidad.” Members will be placing flowers across campus with tags that read “Just like flowers, which come in a variety of sizes and colors, the beauty of mankind lies in its diversity.”
“Puro HSA” will conclude the week with music, games and dancing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fountain Mall.
San Antonio sophomore Daniel Medina, Hispanic Student Association chaplain, said the organization is hoping to branch out, as well as help people share and hear stories they have never heard of before.
“I just hope they come out to not only to support HSA [Hispanic Student Association] but so they can meet new people,” Medina said. “Even if they have no interest in HSA, it will be a fun experience to meet other people and form new bonds and just see the different stories people have.”
Fierro said while the purpose of Hispanic Student Association is to bring together the Latino community, the organization also has another purpose — to branch out past the Latino community, engage with other groups, encourage others to spread beyond their horizons and beyond what they’re comfortable with.
“No matter what walk of life you come from, what your age is, where you’re from — HSA invites you,” Fierro said.
For students interested in being a part of Hispanic Student Association, Medina said meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. every other Thursday. While most of their meetings are held in the Baines room of the Bill Daniel Student Center, he suggests following their social media pages to stay up to date on meeting locations.
