Latinx Unidos celebrates 25 years

Past and present members of Latinx Unidos (formerly Latinos Unidos) will come together this Homecoming to celebrate 25 years at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø. The celebration will take place 10 a.m.-noon on Saturday, Oct. 14, under a tent on the Quad near the Slough.

Members of the Glenview Middle School Mariachi Band will perform, and current Latinx Unidos leaders Amanda Corona ¡¯19 and Crystal Salazar ¡¯19 will speak at approximately 10:30 a.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Amanda Corona ¡¯19, president of Latinx Unidos (LU), met her best friends through the group. Corona said, ¡°Without LU, I wouldn¡¯t have found the right niche on campus. It¡¯s helped me meet other people whom I would never have met otherwise. It gives me an outlet to interact with students and staff who are passionate about things similar to me.¡±

Crystal Salazar, vice president, said, ¡°This year, talking to freshmen [at multicultural student orientation] I realized how important this club was. They felt safe, and they needed a space like LU.¡±

¡°As a Latinx Unidos alumnus myself, I appreciate the sense of communidad that is fostered within the group,¡± said Samuel Payan ¡¯10, director of multicultural student life at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø. ¡°For me that was one of my most memorable experiences.¡±

Important connections are formed at weekly meetings, group outings and volunteer events. Latinx Unidos actively mentors younger members of the surrounding community through programs like Spring Forward, a learning center that provides after school tutoring to elementary and junior high school students.

They also host events that make the campus feel a little bit more like home. For example, Latinx Unidos runs La Virgen de Guadalupe annually on campus. This is Corona¡¯s favorite event.

¡°The event has great significance to me and my family. At school, I get to be with my LU family, and it was great to see the community come out and support this event,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see that our campus caters to a diverse set of interests.¡±

The anniversary is bringing exciting events to this campus, all to be kicked off around Homecoming week. The club is looking forward to the mariachi band, returning alumni visits, D¨ªa de los muertos and a yearlong celebration of LU¡¯s history.

¡°We¡¯re a fairly new group, but we¡¯ve come so far. We¡¯re one of the biggest groups on campus and we¡¯re very involved in the community,¡± Corona said. ¡°I¡¯m excited to show current members that we¡¯ve been here for a long time and we¡¯re going to continue being here for a long time.¡±

For more details about the 25th anniversary celebration of Latinx Unidos, contact Amanda Corona at amandacorona15@augustana.edu or Crystal Salazar at crystalsalazar15@augustana.edu.

Pictured in the Latinos Unidos 1994 Rockety-I photo at top: Front row (L-R): Anna Navarro, Juan M¨²tinera, Sandra Cantu-Montalvo, Julio Aleman, Cecilia Gomez; second row (L- R): Alfredo Garcia, Flor Soto, Consuelo Martinez, Nicole Kraus, Roxann Ramirez, Lidia Castillo; third row (L-R): John Pollitz, Freddy Garcia, Jaime Galindo, Jose Luis-Castro, Lorena Flores, Julio Valdez, Kristin Schadewaldt, Nazario Villasetlor, Rachael Perkins, Gilverto Galindo, Jose Montes)

By Sabrina Hill ¡¯18