Since La Sociedad was established at St. Lawrence University, its mission has been to promote diversity and inclusion on campus. La Sociedad has served as a space where students can learn about the diversity within the Latinx community and re-define for themselves what it means to identify as a member of the Latinx community. Through social events, La Sociedad has been able to successfully establish a profound body on campus. La Sociedad has been working hard to bring forth the traditions that remind us of who we are on campus.
Before the spread of COVID-19, St. Lawrence University hosted its first carnival—a time for students to enjoy the change in weather and participate in an event that is meaningful to their peers. This Carnival occurred in the spring of 2019 in collaboration with multiple groups. La Sociedad collaborated with a once-established organization called the Euphrates. La Sociedad created “immigrants make America great” shirts that students on campus could buy and wear. In addition, La Sociedad hired a group of performers that specialized in carnivals. They came with their own music, costumes, equipment, and performances. Students were also allowed to perform during the event. Now that we are in our second year of this global pandemic and COVID-19 restrictions have begun to loosen, La Sociedad had the idea to bring back this event with the goal of making it traditional.
They had the idea to bring El Carnaval back on campus, as a lot of Latin American countries usually hold a four-day religious celebration (from Saturday to Tuesday) prior to Lent in Feb. that holds big cultural significance. It’s held in almost every Latin American country and combines a lot of dancing, music, and vibrant energy. El Carnaval is also a day meant for people to express their individuality in bold ways to experience a heightened sense of social unity. The idea to bring back El Carnaval was to create a day to unify SLU students from all countries while recognizing traditions that are derived from Latinx communities. La Sociedad’s aim was to educate others about other Latin American traditions and to acknowledge that everyone comes from different backgrounds.
La Sociedad aimed to bring traditions to the event that are mostly found in Latin American countries, and they have achieved this goal. By catering delicious tacos, handing out Latin American flags, renting a mechanical bull, having bubble soccer, tug of war and having DJ Ferchi who represented La Sociedad through his music, which was a mix of Spanish music from all over the world. They also dedicated a piñata to the Thelmo president, Alex Reyes, as he is the first Latino Thelmo President at SLU and La Sociedad wanted to recognize that. Reyes really appreciated the dedication of the piñata and was honored to be part of the event.
People enjoyed the event as they were able to enjoy good food, good music and just good vibes overall. It was all over the app Yik Yak as people praised La Sociedad and were told from various people that they had a good time during the event and expect more from the club overall. La Sociedad claims it was a success, as more than 400 people showed up. There was a lot of dancing, activities going on and people just enjoying themselves. They felt that they met the expectations that were expected of them as people were excited for the day of the event.
In the future, La Sociedad hopes to plan more events and activities for the next school year—as they struggle to be known on campus. They don’t have as many members in comparison to other clubs, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to other groups that are known to be popular and have a certain dynamic. This is due to a lack of representation and engagement of the Latin American countries to begin with, and many people have no interest in learning about it as well at SLU. With El Carnaval, they felt as though they got the word out about La Sociedad and hope people engage more with the organization on campus.
They want to continue to make El Carnaval a yearly event, especially during the spring semester. In addition to this, their next goal is to plan activities or events on campus to create awareness about the Latinx community and continue to educate and share other people’s cultures. You can find La Sociedad on Instagram at @lasociedad_lacasa_slu and learn more about them as well.