Latino Community Reflection Essay

I am a first generation college student. My father dropped out of school in the third grade while my mother dropped out in the ninth grade. They are both from El Salvador and moved over to New York where I was born. My family and I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in the year of 2006. It took me a while to adjust to this new life and the famous southern hospitality, in comparison to the northern hostility, but after a while I accepted Charlotte as my new home. Once I entered the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) I noticed that the Latino student body did not stand out so easily. It was difficult for me to find other Latinos to socialize with. I eventually met other Latinos through the Latin American Student Organization (LASO),

One where we can freely express our culture and learn about others through social games and events. My goal through this process is to create a strong sense of unity within the Latino student body which in turn will create an environment where we as Latinos feel safe to express ourselves and our culture. With recent events in our presidential election and only making up 8.1% of the student body, I think it is very important for Latinos on my campus to have a sense of unity and security. On top of bringing a sense of unity in our Latino population, I also want to establish this with our Greek Organizations. I have been around the Greek Organizations on campus for a while and as someone on the outside looking in I have seen how they interact with one another. I believe that bringing forth a new fraternity is a step in the right direction and the personal relationships that I have made with many of the organizations puts me in a special position to present opportunities for us to collaborate leading to time spent bonding and eventually strong relationships being