The Hispanic and Latino Student Union is a new club has started up this year.
According to one of its sponsors, Matthew Mayeske, it is not just for hanging out. It was created to give Hispanic and Latino students more opportunities for academic readiness as well as in other aspects of their lives. It was also created to give those students a common goal to work through during high school.
“Hispanic Student Union, or Latino Student Union, specifically tries to highlight the Hispanic and Latino community,” Mayeske said. “It’s more towards activating career mindedness, community involvement, [and] volunteering. What we found is that we’ve never had a club like this that really just tries to highlight and honor our Hispanic community, and so the goal is to do that [while] also getting them ready for post-graduation success.”
This club has five sponsors, including Mayeske, three Spanish teachers, and a math teacher. Two of those sponsors are new to the school as well.
“We have five sponsors, myself, Ms. Amanda Brown, [a] Spanish teacher, Mr. Manuel Rodriguez, also a Spanish teacher, Mr. Chris Eitzen, who’s also a Spanish teacher, and Ms. Elena Martinez, who is a math teacher,” Mayske said. “Mr. Rodriguez and Ms. Martinez are both new, and so them joining this club is very special [since] we get two brand new teachers who can help us out.”
According to Mayeske the idea to make this club came from a student who approached him last year in the spring and asked him about it. They then had to get permission from the school to start it.
“A student, Angela Estefes, asked [me] if we had anything like this and I said no, but that we should,” Mayeske said. “And so she worked really hard over the summer to plan it [and] get things going with it. A lot of work has been put [into this] by students, and so they are kind of the masterminds and us teachers are really just here to help sponsor and facilitate.”
The significance of having this kind of club for the students that go here is huge according to Mayeske. Since the Hispanic population is so important to the culture and community here, it should be highlighted as much as possible.
“I hope that [the significance of this club is] larger than we actually are able to see, because I think every student matters, and every student belongs,” Mayeske said. “I hope that as it grows maybe we can get more and more kids [in it], so that more and more kids can feel involved in what they’re doing here.”
While not everything has gotten approved yet, the club is planning to do many activities including spirit weeks to honor Hispanic heritage, some dances to raise money and build a community within the school, and more.
“We would like to do some holiday celebrations, some food and bake sales to raise money, some volunteering in the community, [and more],” Mayeske said. “We have tons of ideas. We’re just getting it off the ground, so we’re hoping to get a few big ones done this year. We have some good starts.”
On Friday, September 27, the club’s first meeting occurred. About 50 invested and eager students showed up and while it was a quick meeting, there was a lot of involvement and it was very effective.
“[At the meeting] we heard from our creator Angela Estefes, she’s a sophomore, she spoke,” Mayeske said. “And then we learned about our expectations and our guidelines, and then I [told] the kids [that] if they’d like to be a part of what we’re going to call Latino Student Union Council, they can be. And so I kind of challenged them to step up and help lead this club. ”
Even if a student is not Hispanic or Latino, they are able to join this club. If a student would like to join, they should look out for the meeting announcements on the daily announcements and in the club’s Google Classroom.
“Anyone can join,” Mayeske said. “In fact, I am a sponsor, but I am myself [am] not Hispanic or Latino. So anyone can join, I think that’s critical. With joining, though, you have to know that you are [doing it] for the benefit of our Hispanic population, and that’s the goal. Our meetings are kind of all over the place right now. We’ll probably end up making a Remind here soon for everybody because finding space is hard with so many clubs [at the moment].”
Another sponsor for the Hispanic or Latino Student Union is Christopher Eitzen, who describes the club as a chance for students to not only participate in community service and have dances, but to fundraise as well.
“[The club is] for Hispanic students so they [can] showcase their heritage and maybe do some fundraising and some community events,” Eitzen said. “[They may] do some food sales as well, [and] maybe something for Hispanic Heritage Month. There’ll be lots of activities that they’re coming up with.”
Eitzen thinks this club shows that the number of Hispanic students in our area has begun growing. He also believes that the club is a place where students can come and speak Spanish if they would like to.
“I think [the creation of the club] shows that there are more Hispanic students in our district than before,” Eitzen said. “It also is a safe place for [students] to showcase who they are.”
Some very good ideas have come from the creation of this club according to Eitzen. However, since it is a new club there are some things that will have to be figured out along the way.
“One [good idea that came from this] would be sending people to translate for new students that we have in the school,” Eitzen said. “They [also] want to add a college piece to this [to] help [students] get scholarships and that kind of thing. So there’s a lot of good things that we’ll start to do, and we might have some others along the way.”
