Sabor Latino, a year-end event that celebrated Latin American culture through music, dance and food, took place last Friday in the DeVos lobby

This event was a collaboration between three groups: Puentes, a fellowship group for Hispanic/Latino students, Latin American Student Association (LASA) and the Spanish department. Sabor Latino was the first time that these groups assembled together.

“What LASA really hoped would happen was that we would really get to know more of the Puentes people and unite the Latino community here on campus and share our culture with everyone else,” said LASA leadership member Cynthia Cortez.

Although this event was meant to celebrate Latino culture, every student on campus was encouraged to attend.

“I think [the event] was really successful!” said Cecilia Berkemeier, a member of Puentes. “It was pretty jumping the whole time. We had a really good turnout and everyone that came had a really good time celebrating together.”

Students had the opportunity to learn about Latin American food as well as learn traditional music.

“Dance lessons were available too,” added Berkemeier. “We tried to make it accessible for people who maybe aren’t the greatest dancers. It was just a fun way to say, ‘Hey wherever you are, come celebrate and have fun.’”

“It was really fun to see the diversity of students that came. It was really encouraging,” stated Berkemeier.

“There was no awkwardness, everyone was just having fun and almost nobody was sitting down,” added Cortez.

The purpose of the event was to foster diversity within the Calvin population and to provide community within the already existing communities on campus.

“What I was most happy with was how it got the Latino community together because we are really scattered here on campus,” stated Cortez.

“I would encourage the students of Calvin to try different activities,” said Berkemeier:

“There’s so much diversity on our campus and sometimes we stay closed off and say, ‘I’m not part of that group.’ But to be able to share your story is a really empowering thing and I think there are a lot of opportunities on campus for that.”