By Abigail Vidals
Nearly a dozen Peninsula College students attended Fiesta Latina, an event held at Green River College, Au- burn, WA on May 3.
Inside the GRC student union building, filled with a large crowd of people, students excitedly waited in line to get buy their ticket into the event. With the proceeds going into a fund to provide scholarships for Latino American Students.
The event was open to all GRC students and to the Auburn community. With invitations extending to many other community colleges including Peninsula College and Highline College.
Fiesta Latina welcomed as many as 300 attendees, a successful event put on by the GRC Latino Student Union.
“One of the major purposes for this festivity was to unify Green River students with the rest of the community,” said Fernando Yanez-Martinez, leader of the GRC Latino Student Union. “We have a huge Latino popula- tion in our communities and we wanted to celebrate them on our campus. I think it’s very important for Latinos in higher education to connect and network with each other. We want to build community and lift each other up.”
The festivities began with different guest speakers, which ranged from the President of the GRC to profes- sors in the Spanish, Humanities and American Ethnic Studies departments. Afterwards a buffet filled with dif- ferent kinds of finger food was opened to the audience. Monarca Mariachis, a local mariachi band, filled the air with music, which brought out much enthusiasm from the people.
The event offered several activities, such as tradition- al latino games like Loteria (a game of chance similar to Bingo), photo booth backgrounds and pinatas. The night ended with a dance to different genres of Latino music such as bachata, cumbia, duranguense, reggaeton, salsa, banda and tejano.
Though Fiesta Latina was held on a school night, many families came out together. From students with their parents, to siblings, to toddlers, everyone partici- pated in the festivities.
When asked how he felt about the outcome of this event, Yanez-Martinez answered, “There is a need in our campus and our community to express our culture and roots as Latinos. Fiesta Latina provided the space to share our heritage with the rest of the campus. Having the mariachi, spoken word artists, and a dance to Latino hits was our way of celebrating and expressing ourselves.”
This college event exposed many who attended, in- cluding PC students, to Latino culture.
“It felt awesome and entertaining,” said PC student Seng Jhing Goh. “As an international student, I’ve been learning and understanding other people’s culture which is a great thing. No matter where you come from, every- one should respect each other.”