In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in October, Southwestern Adventist University, SWAU, held its first Latin Festival on Sept. 26, 2022, at Moore Lawn. It was a celebration filled with music, food and activities. This Latin Festival, planned by the Student Association, SA, is hoped to become a tradition at SWAU every year with all the diverse heritages honored during their special time. The festival was created to honor and show appreciation for the diverse SWAU campus. According to collegefactual.com SWAU is made up of 47.7% Hispanics, which is the largest demographic on campus.
Seeing the family culture displayed at the festival truly embodied the spirit of the Latin
culture. “It was great to see countries represented in colorful cultural wear,” says James The,
Dean of students. “I’m not a foodie but the food I tasted seemed authentic and it was delicious.”
The Student Association’s (SA) next event is an International Fall Festival that combines
traditional fall activities and food from all over the world and will take place on Nov. 13. The
International Fall Festival will have hayrides, pumpkin painting, bonfires and smores, cooking
decorating, cultural dances and songs, as well as lots of food that people from the community
and churches have offered to sell. The SA Social Vice President, Samantha Rivera, and Vice
President, Keith Barrow, put together a separate committee for this event, Michaela Lazaraus,
Senior Class Treasurer, and Ashyln Tyler, Senior Class President.
Recently SA had a Latin Festival, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month and Thea Plosceanu, SA secretary, says “the Latin Festival was our first step in embracing SWAU’s diversity to hopefully keep this spirit going in the years to come.” The SA team has been working hard to have more events that show culture appreciation and community spirit. It is the hope to have cultural events be made a tradition for SWAU’s campus. The SA team wants to establish traditions that can make an impact on campus in order to leave behind a legacy.
Barrow says, “culture is an important part of what makes us all unique, and we are
working hard to celebrate that as best as we can.”