Organization of the Week: Hispanic Student Association
The Hispanic Student Association is an upcoming organization that explores Hispanic cultures.
This organization aims to create a community for Hispanic students where they can come together, relate to one another and learn new things.
Haily Pineda, the president of the Hispanic Student Association proclaimed, “It’s not just for Hispanic students, it also any student who might be interested in learning about Hispanic cultures.”
Pineda is a junior clinical laboratory science major from Las Vegas, NV who moved to South Carolina 10 years ago.
The Vice President, David Negrete remarked, “I would like to add that when I originally thought about it [The Hispanic Student Association], I always wanted like to have other Hispanic students to have a sense of familiarity and like [students at] USC Aiken to know that there is [are] other people just like them going through the same experiences they are.”
Negrete is from Aiken, SC and a senior biology major with hopes to later attend dental school in Augusta, GA.
Pineda and Negrete are first-generation college students and descendants of Mexican parents. They met through Professor Stephanie Orozco as they were both interested in creating a club for Hispanic students at USC Aiken.
“I always wanted to be in one, I always like wish there was one here, so I was like why not build one for the future college students that come in, the future Hispanic students,” Negrete explained.
The Hispanic Student Association is not an official organization yet, their edited constitution needs to be approved and then go through a three-month trial period. The trial period allows the upcoming organization to operate as if they were official to test out their functionality. They have had two general meetings, have thirty-four official members and officers in the organization’s board.
Though they are not an official organization, the Hispanic Student Association does have events they plan to host in mind. They have an idea of hosting a pinata fundraiser where pinatas created by members will be hung, possibly outside the SAC, and charge for people to hit them. There are other hopes to host events teaching how to cook Hispanic meals and a food-based fundraiser.
Negrete stated, “For the future, we definitely have a lot of ideas like somebody said a soccer tournament. Somebody said like a Latin dance where we teach people how to dance to like Latin music, stuff like that.”
As they are a new and upcoming organization, they’re trying to plan enticing activities while building their funds. They intend to get T-shirts and more once they raise money.
During Hispanic Heritage Month, Pineda and Negrete have been actively attending and helping out at USC Aiken’s events for the Hispanic community.
When asked about what they wanted to say to readers, Pineda announced, “I would encourage them to join if they want to learn about our cultures, [be]cause we are very proud of who we are and it makes me happy to know that somebody wants to learn from my personal experience.”
If interested in joining the Hispanic Student Association, keep an eye out for flyers and emails about their upcoming events. You can also contact Haily Pineda at hpineda@usca.edu and David Negrete at negretev@usca.edu.
