ABBIE MILLER
Editor-in-Chief
Photo by DREW PALUCH | Photo Editor
Latinos Unidos is giving burnout a run for its money.
With the semester nearing a close and finals looming on students’ minds, it seemed as though a break in studying was in desperate need amongst those attending Wednesday’s Lotería event.
Sebastian Montalban, a senior public relations and media management double-major and the public relations chair for Latinos Unidos (LU), says that Lotería is essentially the “Mexican bingo.”
“It’s something that people play at parties, family events, even weddings,” he said.
Part of its popularity is because Lotería is accessible to play for virtually all audiences with its colorful boards and simple premise.
The simplicity of the game was one of the reasons why LU wanted to host the event.
“April and May are like the worst months for everybody. That’s when every big thing is happening and everyone’s all stressed out and nobody has time for themselves,” Montalban noted.
Also of concern for a sizable portion of students is the worry of what they will do following graduation. Montalban shares this apprehension.
“Regarding graduation, [I feel] terror, absolute terror, I’m going to be honest,” he said.
“Because I’ve had so much time to plan and I’m like ‘oh, I’ll be fine, it’s so far off,’ [and now] it’s like three weeks [away] and I’m like ‘what am I going to do?’”
The topic of Montalban’s nearing graduation also brings up his departure from LU.
“I’m going to miss everybody … I feel like this club has helped me develop more in terms of my social skills because COVID was rough and I lost a lot of that.”
Montalban says that one of the reasons why he values LU is because, “There’s just a sense of community within the club and with … the people we interact with [during] events and [through] sharing [our] culture … But I know the club’s in good hands.”
With the stress of graduation and assignments looming over students’ heads, Montalban says LU “figured that throwing an event like this, where they can just pop in, play a couple rounds of bingo, hopefully win, and then go on their way, we felt that was a great idea.”
Emily Farmer, a senior criminal justice and sociology double major, seemed to find relief in the festivities.
“I thought [LU] did a very good job. It was just a low-stakes, nice get-together community thing, [where] you could win free money.”
Farmer admittedly does not normally attend campus events such as Lotería. According to Montalban, lack of attendance at LU’s events and meetings remains one of his and other campus organizations’ chief concerns.
“Turnout isn’t always great. But I get people are busy [and] sometimes club meeting times don’t work for everybody.”
Another cause for concern, Montalban notes, is those who feel intimidated by LU’s connection with Latin identities.
“What we feel like is one of our biggest obstacles is that a lot of people feel like they aren’t welcome because they’re not Latino. We just want everybody to know that part of the name is Latinos Unidos, [“Unidos” meaning] united. And that includes those outside of the Latin community and anyone of any identity really.”
That’s what makes holding events such as this so important, according to Montalban.
Farmer learned about Lotería through word of mouth. In her experience, it is more common for students who live off-campus, such as herself, to receive news on the happenings around campus this way.
But for students who are newer to Fredonia and do not have the social network that Farmer has, this way of information dissemination may pose a problem.
One of the ways for off-campus students such as Farmer to get involved with LU’s events is through their email list, says Montalban: “The email list [latinos.unidos@fredonia.edu] is definitely one way to stay ahead of the curve on events and meetings that we have.”
Interested students can also check the TVs around campus to look out for future LU programs.
Farmer suggests that part of the reason why campus organizations are unable to spread information regarding their events to a greater audience is that they are limited in the funding they receive from the college administration.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the school itself [because of] the funding issues that we’re having … The school definitely needs to care more about its clubs and its students. And the lack of funding and events, especially happening this year, definitely shows they don’t.”
Farmer, whose own major was affected by the recent program discontinuations, says that the budgetary deficit driving these issues isn’t given as much significance as it should be.
“There’s already budget cuts in a lot of the departments. That’s obviously bleeding into our clubs and activities here … Fredonia needs to prioritize its students and its clubs.”
Montalban pointed out several other concerns that influence the success of events such as Lotería.
“I think one of the biggest issues was … the timing. We wanted to do it at a time where people weren’t too busy so they could look forward to it.”
In regard to the timing of the event, Montalban and the rest of LU were under even more constraints.
LU’s annual Carnival, which usually occurs during Multicultural Weekend on March 21 to 23, was moved to a few weeks later. In its place, they decided to host Lotería.
“We had some issues with the planning and setup for Carnival regarding prizes and stuff, especially with the new format that SA is taking in terms of approval for things.”
In fact, Montalban states that the lack of effective communication between the Student Association (SA) and LU in getting approval for the event creates a domino effect. According to Montalban, by making it more difficult for clubs to host campus gatherings, SA and other associated campus authorities discourage organizations from hosting any events whatsoever.
Farmer has had her own difficulties when it comes to this.
“I’ve been trying to revitalize the Criminal Justice Club [which has] been a very slow and painstaking process.”
That being said, Farmer’s hardships with the Criminal Justice Club led her to “appreciate when clubs do things on campus a little bit more because now I understand that process a little bit better.”
At the end of the day, LU’s purpose is to “share our culture with people outside of [it] and [to celebrate] even more than just one culture, because we’re not all one Latin identity … We want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves, experience new culture and learn new things.”
LU plans to provide students another avenue to relax and explore Latin culture with its upcoming Carnival. Held on April 30 from 6 to 9 p.m., the Dods Grove extravaganza will include a larger scale of activities and a wider range of foods.