By Ryan Otteson | Reporter
The Latinx Association for Health and Science is a student organization that strives to inspire increased diversity at Baylor and encourage others to give back to their communities. Their goal is to help students become well-rounded healthcare professionals in the future.
LASH provides pre-health and STEM students with a group of people who are of similar heritage, and many students have said that it feels like a family. Mission senior Brandon Pina describes how he felt when coming to Baylor, and how this organization helped him feel like he belonged.
“It was like ‘Where are my people? Where do I go?’ But I feel like being in LASH has provided that home,” Pina said.
El Paso sophomore Zuleika Botello has had a similar experience in LASH, and said she fell in love with the organization because she was trying to find people with similar experiences and backgrounds to her. She is the social chair for the organization.
“The community is just so tight; they have what they call the familia mindset,” she said. “Everyone is just very close knit. They have so many socials, and they have so many events that just bring the whole community together.”
LASH has events for their philanthropy, such as La Puerta, as well as social and pre-health events for students involved in LASH.
“Our philanthropy is La Puerta, which is by the Silos, and they teach the Hispanic population here in Waco either Spanish or English,” Botello said. “It’s mainly people who are trying to get their high school diploma.”
According to the LASH website, the goal of La Puerta is to give English and Spanish speakers in Waco a chance to advance their skills and have their needs be met. Just recently, LASH had a kickball tournament to raise money for their philanthropy, and other organizations and groups showed up to play. Pina described his favorite part of the tournament.
“It involves a bunch of people from different communities and a bunch of different cultures and backgrounds getting along,” he said.
Botello is the social chair for LASH, and she explained the social events that they do help students grow a sense of community.
“I host events every other week just so members can come by and take a break from studies,” she said. “I think my next upcoming social is going to be a Zumba night because I always try and incorporate fitness in there.”
In the past, they have done trivia and brain games as social events. According to Botello, if people are interested in joining LASH, all they need to do is show up to the meetings or events. There is no application needed. Some people that are not of Latin culture might come just because they enjoy the culture, she said.
