Celebrating Latin American Culture With LASA
We sat down with Almudena Latorre and Isabella Silvera to talk everything Latin American Student Association!
With Hispanic Heritage Month right around the corner, what better time is there to highlight Hylton’s Latin American Student Association (LASA) than right now? To do just that, we sat down for an interview with LASA’s Co-President Isabella Silvera and Vice President Almudena Latorre, who explained everything you want to know about one of our school’s most important student organizations.
Question: What is the purpose of LASA?
“One of the biggest purposes of LASA is to explain different leadership programs and college opportunities or any other programs students can apply to, especially [those that are] Latino-specific. Just helping them get the resources [they need and] helping them focus… LASA is made to make students feel welcome, for everyone, not just Hispanic students, everyone is welcome to join.”
Question: What inspired you to join LASA?
Almudena Latorre: “For me, I actually joined the club last year- I was inspired because it felt like I would get to know some amazing people, some people with the same background as me, maybe with the same difficulties as me.”
Isabella Silvera: “For my first year of high school, I went to Colgan- and there wasn’t any type of support for other Latinos, there was no representation, there was no community. It was kinda like every Latino for themselves, so I knew coming to Hylton that this was something I wanted to join. [LASA] helps so many people with finding their niche and finding support with other people- people that have the same goals as them, the same culture, the same background. We’re all just uplifting and helping each other.”
Question: What are your greatest memories or achievements?
Almudena Latorre: “I have two greatest memories. First, when we did [our] Dia de los Muertos meeting last year. We got to do some really fun activities, we got to paint popsicle sticks [and] write our loved one’s names on them and learned a lot about the culture around that [holiday.] My second memory in LASA is the fact that we were really able to do a lot of things for International Night last year. We were able to bring a lot food from different Hispanic countries and make posters with facts about those countries so people could learn more about them.
Isabella Silvera: “I loved International Night. We were a big part of International Night, we brought a lot of dishes and some of our members participated in the dancing part. It was beautiful and I loved everything, all the LASA members- we came early to set up and seeing all the other people of color like my peers and seeing them succeed and thrive and finding a community- it was really beautiful. It was eye-opening to see the impact of our club and why it’s important to have in every school.”
Question: Is there anything you want to do differently this year?
Isabella Silvera: I would really love to get more involved with events, we do have meetings but like- we wanted to do a tailgate, more outreach in our community. [We also want to] grow our club, that would be amazing, not even just Latino students.
Question: Would you be willing to collaborate with other clubs in the future?
“Yeah, I feel like that’s something we would love to do. Last year we actually collaborated with some other clubs- we did a fruit-tasting event [with the BSU.] We would also love to be able to help out more clubs so we can make more events and get together more often… We already had one club text us about collaborating in the future, but yeah, that would be amazing.”
Just earlier this week, LASA had their first event, an interest meeting - potluck hybrid! They’re sure to do even more great things this year! You can find updates on everything Latin American Student Association on their Instagram here.
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