Beatriz Carrillo: Benefits of Student Organizations on Campus
I spent eight years of my life in a small, predominantly white neighborhood in the middle of nowhere Minnesota. I came to the University of Minnesota because it is the biggest school around and in a very diverse city. However, once here I was once again in culture shock. There were not as many Latinos as I had originally thought there would be. I was fortunate enough that I had signed up for Casa Sol a Latino Living and Learning community where I met about 12 Latinos. Through Casa Sol I also learned about other Latino organizations and departments. I was especially excited to learn about La Raza Student Cultural Center. La Raza is a Latino student organization on campus and now it is where I spend a lot of my time. It is a great organization that celebrates the Latino culture and educates about prominent issues affecting the Latino community. These student centers and communities have a positive effect on the Latino students on campus and are vital to diversity.
Many people have negative perception of multi-cultural student centers. They believe that we are not welcoming. This, however, is the furthest thing from the truth. All the organizations are very welcoming to all people, La Raza welcomes all the members from other organizations like the Black Student Union or Al-Madinah and vice-versa. There are not many people of color and we all try and unite all our members because we all have something in common.
These centers allow us to make friends not only from a similar background but also build connections. These organizations organize events and bring in leaders from the community. All this helps to create a great environment for people of color to flourish.
The University of Minnesota is a better school because of the student centers, it builds leadership and connections within the community. People need to visit these centers before they assume that they are mean people who are isolating themselves. I am extremely glad to be part of La Raza and I hope to continue to create relationships within the school and in the community.