Latino Student Alliance’s beautiful ‘alfombra’ is the centerpiece for a Holy Week chapel service

Lauren Jefferson — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 17:55:14 +0000

More than 150 members of the ��ݮ�� and Eastern Mennonite Seminary community gathered in the campus center Wednesday for a Holy Week service around the “alfombra,” or carpet, a colorful tradition of Central America and Mexico. [See slideshow below.]

The four sections of the alfombra, made of rice, flour and other materials and created by EMU’s Latino Student Alliance (LSA), represented immigration and refugees, salvation, hope and suffering.

Celebrants formed a processional around the artwork, walking together for brief periods of silent meditation between scripture readings and hymns sung in both Spanish and English.

A devotion of time

The LSA alfombra took 100 pounds of rice and a variety of other materials, including flour, to create in the university’s campus center. (Photo by Andrew Strack)

Members of the LSA, assisted by Professor , started creating the artwork on Monday. They would eventually invest approximately 40 hours in the creation. Their painstaking work drew the attention of the and WHSV (to view coverage, click .)

“T�� alfombras are made to welcome Jesus in remembrance of His entrance in Jerusalem during Palm Sunday,” said LSA leader Rebecca Cardwell, welcoming the community to the service. “Instead of palms, the communities prepare these colorful rugs to welcome Him as their King.”

Cardwell is one of – including Ana Cruz, Fernanda Hernandez and Paola Diaz – who have helped the Latino Student Alliance become more of a presence on campus. One goal of the group is to prominently feature the vibrant diversity of Hispanic culture.

Additionally, the group has hosted a variety of activities to strengthen ties with local Latino students, many of whom commute to campus, in addition to raising awareness among the broader EMU community. Their annual banquet, held in September, is a sign of their success: With attendance growing each year to 180 people in 2015, they catered their last event.

Excitement generates ideas

Initial plans were to remove the alfombra before Easter break, but , director of multicultural student services, says interest from local church groups coming to campus to view the alfombra has changed plans and the artwork will be remain through March 31. [The university is closed for Easter break March 25-28 and will reopen March 29.]

Because of the excitement generated by this project, Lepley suggested that a wider Holy Week event and bilingual worship service could be a possibility for next year, with community groups and congregations invited to design and create their own alfombra.

The EMU campus community has many connections to Central and South America in addition to students, faculty and staff native to those countries, including the club’s advisor, , a native of Bolivia. Noted in the crowd were many faculty and staff who have lived and worked in Central and South America. Additionally, a is spending the semester in Guatemala and Cuba, with Elaine Zook Barge and her husband, former MCC workers in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala for 15 years.

For more information about visiting campus, call (540) 432-4000.

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Four senior leaders leave behind a thriving and visible Latino Student Alliance on campus

Lauren Jefferson — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 11:36:37 +0000

This month saw a symbolic “passing of the torch” in the Latino Student Alliance at ��ݮ��, as four comadres, their friendship forged by a common love of heritage and culture, moved out of leadership positions they have held for the past three years. The women, all seniors, are largely responsible for the visibility and resurgence of the club, known as LSA, over the past four years. [See slide show below.]

Their friendship actually began with LSA, which makes for four long years of learning and growing together, most commonly communicating “in Spanglish,” they say. Though each has held formal leadership positions in the club, in reality “there is no hierarchy,” says one.

Meet Ana Cruz, of New Market, Virginia, who plans a career in elementary school . She’s calm and cool under pressure, and always willing to represent the group at meetings. When tensions rise, she is always the one to break the ice.
Fernanda “Fer” Hernandez, a senior major, is from Honduras. “Fer is the most organized and detail-oriented of us all,” says one of her friends. “We would throw ideas out and the next meeting she’d have a plan.”
Paola Diaz, from McGaheysville, Virginia, is a major, double minoring in psychology and coaching. A consummate networker who is well-known in the local community, she’s “all about the connections.”
And there’s Rebecca Cardwell, from Maryland, who is a and TESOL major, who has been “welcomed with open arms” into the Latino community, she says. Her strength is a contagious enthusiasm that provides momentum. “We always say that her heart is definitely Hispanic,” says club advisor Maria Esther Showalter, a native of Bolivia.

The four friends have been “fabulous leaders,” says , director of . “They have grown in confidence, learned to stand up when the situation warrants, to manage conflict effectively and persevered when things did not work out … they show this leadership not just on campus, but in their churches and communities, too.”

Latinos ‘more than just immigrants’

When the foursome joined LSA, the club had only a few members and was coming off a stretch in which activities of the club revolved around political activism in favor of immigration reform. With the support and encouragement of Susannah Lepley, the four women decided to emphasize Latino culture in all its breadth and diversity. Since 2014, , who teaches in the , has continued to support and “empower us as student-leaders to make choices,” said Rebecca.

Latino culture, they decided, would be a meeting point for EMU’s Latino students, most of whom were local commuters, and the broader EMU community.

“While the DREAM Act and immigration reform are important, we didn’t want to be defined by that. We are more than just immigrants,” says Fernanda. “We wanted to show what our culture is like … food and culture and bright colors … We really wanted to change the focus.”

Banquet grows annually

Latino Heritage Month, which falls in September, provided a natural focus for the club’s events, which includes a chapel service, always followed by café con pan dulce (coffee with sweet bread); a welcome luncheon; movie screenings; and other activities, the most successful of which has been an annual banquet.

The 2015 annual banquet drew 180 students to festivities. (Courtesy photo)

Staging the banquet was the first major event for the then-sophomore leaders, who underestimated the crowd and the amount of work involved. Fernanda says the four chefs “did all the cooking for 100 people at my house.” Then they rushed it all to EMU, arriving with the smells of plantains and chicken clinging to their clothes.

“In the recent years we have catered the Pollo a la Braza, plátanos fritos, pupusas, flan, tres leches, and other side dishes from local Hispanic restaurants,” says Maria Esther Showalter, “but many students also volunteer to cook. We always think we will have enough food but we always have more students than we expect.”

With music, storytelling and post-dinner salsa dancing, the event has grown every year, with a crowd of about 180 attending the 2015 event.

This year, LSA partnered with two departments to host Chilean-American writer . They also helped during the Noche Bohemia, which showcases the creativity and language skills of Spanish language learners in a fun, supportive environment.

Volunteering has also been a part of the club’s efforts: they’ve set up a Christmas program with Skyline Literacy and worked with a multicultural family literacy program in Washington D.C.

Club now more present to first-years, Latino community

At the 2014 banquet with comedian Ernie G. Top row: Mario Hernandez, Mario Valladares, Paola Diaz, Vivian Tejeda, Aldo Pinedo. Bottom: (Below) Spanish Professor Don Clymer, Esther Clymer, LSA advisor M. Esther Showalter, Fer Hernandez, Rebecca Cardwell, comedian Ernie G., Ana Cruz, Jessica Martin and Jeremy Martin.

One result of the club’s successful banquet was an invitation from to take over the mixer for first-years on the final night of orientation. Instead of square dancing, LSA teaches salsa dancing. Rebecca says one student who saw her on campus recognized her and said he met all his friends that night.

“LSA is part of what first-year students see and participate in when they arrive on campus that first week,” Rebecca said. “First-years see a diverse community here. Then we carry that awareness through into Latino Heritage Month. It’s been really important and helpful to have that presence from the start of the school year.”

“We’ve come a long way from when we started, when the Latino community really wasn’t represented on our campus in a strong, visible way,” says Fernanda. “Connecting with our Latino students, who are often commuters who are working and many are first-generation college students, has also been very meaningful to us. We want to nurture Latinos coming here, because even if you grow up in the States, you might not feel comfortable here on campus.”

Paola says by being present and sharing their stories, some of which involve overcoming prejudice, there is growing potential for LSA members to nurture and support first-generation college students.

Among a host of other possible activities to get involved with, LSA has been their main interest over the years, the women say, because they have made an important difference in the campus community.

“We have chosen to invest time in LSA because we want to grow together, and we want to share our love for our culture and build cultural competency on the campus,” Ana says. “We’ve been able to do that, but also support our other groups, like International Student Organization and Black Student Union, so that we all have representation.”

They’re leaving EMU with many accomplishments to celebrate besides the foundation they’ve laid for LSA. Two of the four seniors have one more semester on campus, which means they will all be present for the celebrations, as damas de honor, at Paola’s fall 2016 wedding.

LSA meets Tuesdays at noon for informal conversation in the dining hall, and also from 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Fridays in the Multicultural Student Services office.