Credit: Griskarly Sena
Unidos Todo Se Puede (UTSP) is a Latino club at SUNY OW that focuses on unity. UTSP hosted “Noche de Juegos,” a night of games, in collaboration with Sigma Iota Alpha on February 22 in the Panther’s Pad at the Student Union.
Students came together to enjoy a night of Lotería and other games. This event gathered a community to share a night of games and joy while also having quality time to share culture.
La Lotería is a popular Mexican game similar to Bingo. In Lotería, the player needs to mark specific objects and symbols on the board once it is called out. In order to win, you need to complete a specific pattern or row and yell the words “Lotería” to grab everyone’s attention.
Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha Incorporated (SIA) is an all-inclusive Latin-based sorority that opens their doors to everyone. They have been active on campus at OW since 1993. During the recent pandemic they have recently had difficulties with getting students engaged in the love for Latin culture. They are excited to be active and spread knowledge about diversity again now that the pandemic seems to be ending.
SIA wants “to foster a community for students who hold an appreciation of the Latin culture,” said Melissa Gordillo-Gomez, a second-year graduate student and member of SIA since Fall of 2019. SIA is “educating” and “empowering students who share these identities to band together.” Gordillo-Gomez explained that the Theta Chapter at OW is able to flourish through working with other Greek letter organizations and on campus clubs. “When we heard that UTSP was recently founded, we wanted to help them the way we’ve been helped since coming back to campus,” she said.
UTSP strives to make representation in the Latino community more accessible and inclusive at SUNY Old Westbury. At UTSP, everyone can come together to talk about their different cultural experiences while also learning about new ones within the Latino community.
UTSP and SIA both wanted to create a safe environment and space for OW’s Latino community.
