Mexican culture mixer set for April 24

By Mallory Stiles
Editor in Chief

A special mixer dedicated to Mexican culture will be hosted in the Cesar Chavez Learning Center on Wednesday, April 24, from noon to 2 p.m.

The Chavez Center is located in the Arts & Sciences Building, room 1313. Both the Hispanic Heritage Awareness Committee and the CCLC staff are responsible for the celebration, but are recognized as separate teams.

LCC Enrollment Coordinator and HHAC Member Sophia Estrada-Ferreira said the distinction between the two groups is quite simple and gave a quick description.

“We are collaborating with the Cesar Chavez Learning Center, but we are not them,” she said. “We are an entity of our own; we are the Hispanic Heritage Awareness Committee. What that means is that we are an infinity group of LCC employees who get together to talk about important issues. We also host events to amplify and uplift the Latinx community.”

Estrada-Ferreira said although the mixer is planned near Cinco de Mayo, the holiday is not the sole purpose of the celebration. It was, however, an integral part of the theme.

“Cinco de Mayo is really celebrated a LOT here in the United States, but not so much in Mexico,” she said. “It’s not that they don’t celebrate it, because they do, it’s just celebrated differently. So, what we wanted to do, is to shed light on that and give the history of Cinco de Mayo as celebrated in the United States, but then also bring that up in relation to the Mexican culture, specifically.”

There will be a taco bar and brownies for anyone who brings their appetite. There will also be several presentations and a chance for public engagement.

“We have a community member that will be coming out and speaking about their work and then we have Dr. Olga (Correa), the director of the Cesar Chavez Learning Center, who will speak,” Estrada-Ferreira said.

“Then we are going to have an open mike, at which point, other faculty members or students can share anything they might be working on in the community that they might want people to know about.”

Technically, the target audience of an infinity group is primarily staff. However, Estrada-Ferreira said this is an event that is open to anyone. To the committee, it is also about spreading awareness.

In that spirit, it has been requested that every attendee bring one thing.

“We are just asking people to come with an open mind,” Estrada-Ferreira said. “We all are different, we come from different backgrounds, we come from different understandings and our communities are vastly different.”

While everyone involved is excited to celebrate Mexican-American culture, it is also an event meant to spark a conversation about the unity of diversity.

“We are all different,” Estrada-Ferreira said, “but that’s what makes us beautiful.”