The Latino Hispanic Association began last semester and was created by seven FAU students with the purpose of building a family joined by similar cultures. It is a club with the main motive of making Latino-Hispanic students feel welcome and providing them with a sense of belonging. 

However, the club has an interesting spin. It’s not only a place to make friends and have fun, but also an organization dedicated to community service and the well-being of its members as well as other Latino Hispanics across the country, and even those in need back in South America. 

Some ways through which the organization is planning on doing this is through partnering with local hospitals for health promotion, organizing beach clean-ups, and offering Latino-Hispanic scholarships. They even plan on arranging a special Christmas event to send donations like food and other resources in need back to their home countries, said LHA’s VP of community service, Katy Guerra. 

The club is also preparing to connect with other organizations within FAU like the Global Business Association and FAU’s Career Center. They hope to arrange an event aimed at teaching members about the professional work field.

“We want to help Latinos that are in college to get a job, many of them are first generation in college,” said Guerra.

The Latino Hispanic Association will partner with the College of Business for Hispanic Heritage Month to promote development and professional etiquette, provide career fairs,  create a mock-up interview setting for members, and teach members, in general, all the factors they must keep in mind when applying to internships and jobs. 

While the organization has a large variety of community service-oriented events, they still recognize the importance of building friendships within their club. LHA has other fun events such as dance nights, tailgates, and other activities that unite the students. 

As the semester progresses, the club has countless activities planned, all with the help of the exponential growth that they’re seeing in the volume of members. Sylvana Mejia, the VP of social media and one of the organization’s founders spoke on the contrast that was the turnout they received versus the one they expected. 

“We had 30 seats and 50 people came up, it was such a heartfelt moment because they all stayed there standing either way,” she said. 

Mejia, along with Gabriela Rodriguez, another founder of the club, felt disbelief as more than 70 people are now attending their meetings and events. 

“It started as a little idea in our apartments and now it’s here,” said Rodriguez. 

LHA began with the purpose of establishing a more vibrant Latino community at FAU, which the founders felt was missing. As a result, the organization has served as a safe haven for those students struggling with adjusting to a new culture, and to those who don’t feel seen. 

“There are a lot of international students and they don’t speak the most English, we are trying to focus a lot more on speaking Spanish and bringing them in,” said Katy Guerra.

The Latino Hispanic Association has the goal of making all new international and exchange students recognize their culture and find that understand where they come from with whom they can connect.

The organization has been working hard to promote its club, seeking out all the Latino and Hispanic students looking for a community. They’re actively tabling on the Breezeway, and their Instagram page is open to inquiry and interest. LHA hosts multiple events a week at times and plans to mainly meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with more information, including how to sign up and join their member WhatsApp group chat, on their official Owl Central page. 

The club’s success is attributed to the efforts of its founders as well as the newly found feeling of friendship and unity within this FAU community that will grow outwards. It’s establishing security and recognition for those students who have felt unseen. 

“We are all united for one purpose, the students themselves already feel united,” said founder and VP, Gabriela Rodriguez. 

Isabella Visbal is a staff writer for the University Press. For questions about this story or others, contact Isabella at [email protected].