Nationally, Latinx Heritage Month is celebrated each year from September 15 to October 15. At Stevens, students participate in celebrating Latin Heritage by embracing Latin culture and supporting the aspirations of students with Latinx backgrounds.
Stevens has multiple cultural organizations supporting students of Latin heritage, including the Latin American Association (LAA), Society for Hispanic Engineers (SHPE), Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity (LUL), and the LatinX Council. Each of these organizations focuses on fostering a community that embraces Latin heritage and invites students from all backgrounds to learn and immerse themselves in the culture.
The Stevens chapter of LAA was founded on November 8, 1961. The first executive board was comprised of Vicente Citarella as Executive Chairman, Rafael Kapustin as Secretary, and Andres Bello as Treasurer. In the December 16, 1961 Winter Carnival Issue of The Stute, one article stated, “All undergraduate students in Spanish affairs are also welcome; however, knowledge of Spanish would be necessary.” Today, knowledge of Spanish is not a requirement and all students are welcome to join.
LAA aims to present social, political and cultural activities that affirm and empower Latin identity. In the same 1961 issue of The Stute, a spokesman for LAA said, “There is a need for better understanding of our respective positions among the freedom loving countries of the world. […] And the cure is obvious. Union through understanding of both the complete personalities. That is why we stress interchangeability.” The goal of informing and educating the Stevens community is deep-rooted in LAA, and members continue to spread cultural awareness and offer opportunities for the Stevens community.
Another Latin organization at Stevens, SHPE, has gained notoriety on campus. SHPE is a national organization of professional engineers that aims to empower students of Latin heritage to become leaders in innovation, science, mathematics, and engineering by impacting the world through STEM awareness, support, access, and development. The Stevens chapter was founded in 1998 and was recognized by SHPE National in 1991. The organization has enabled students to become leaders and accomplished their goal of spreading STEM awareness in the Latin community since its founding.
In 2012, the Stevens chapter of SHPE received national recognition for a case study presented at SHPE’s annual leadership training convention, the National Institute for Leadership Advancement(NILA). The Stevens chapter placed third overall.
In 2016, the chapter received the Outstanding Medium-Sized Chapter of the Year award at that year’s SHPE conference. The club earned this award by providing STEM awareness and development through a plethora of events such as public speaking workshops, mock interview sessions, Stevens’ first Hackathon (DuckHacks), and more. The chapter not only provides professional experience and tools, but also a community of individuals who work to uplift one another.
One of the five cultural Greek organizations on campus, LUL, has gained traction in recent years. It was founded by Cornell University on February 19, 1982. The Stevens chapter was established at Stevens on September 7, 1997 by Ronald Castro, Benjamin Irizarry, Ariso Herrera, Jose Gutarra, and Jimmy Tovar. Gupreet Singh, President of the current Steven’s chapter said, “Our founders were keen on providing a platform for Latino men to serve their community and strengthen Latino representation in higher education. Since the chapter’s inception, Alpha Alpha chapter has worked extremely hard to address the need of the Latino community on the Stevens campus by promoting cultural awareness through series of events and community service.”
LUL’s mission is to take a role in meeting the needs of the Latin community through academic achievement, cultural awareness, community service and encouragement of Stevens students of Latin heritage. Members have accomplished this by Providing Access to Higher Education (PATHE) to underrepresented individuals. Members of LUL have aided in the development of the other related organizations on campus like SHPE, LAA, the LatinX Council and continue to participate in a variety of other clubs on campus. The fraternity has also run successful community service events like Brown & Gold Christmas which involves donating and wrapping toys for disadvantaged children.
The work, accomplishments, and awards listed above are merely the tip of the iceberg of the history of student organizations at Stevens aiming to promote Latin heritage.
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