DURHAM-Around 200 University of New Hampshire (UNH) students joined together in the Memorial Union Building’s (MUB) Granite State room on Thursday, Sept. 28th for MOSAICO’s Latinx Heritage Dinner. The dinner hosted a live mariachi band, a variety of Latinx food and drinks and lots of dancing.
MOSAICO is UNH’s Latinx Student Organization and the event was a celebration of Latinx Heritage Month. Kyara Crespo Gutierrez, the current chair of MOSAICO, said that the goal of this celebration is to “highlight, basically the achievements and accomplishments that Latinx people have brought to the United States, like all of their contributions, and just celebrating that, acknowledging it. Bringing awareness and just making sure people are having fun.”
The dinner began with a speech from Gutierrez, informing the students present about MOSAICO as well as thanking everyone involved in the event’s organization. Following the speech, students lined up, waiting for their chance to try authentic Latin American cuisine.
The food included chicken, steak, veggies, white rice, refried beans, salad, tortillas, chips and churros. The drinks included horchata, a rice water beverage, Jarritos, a Mexican brand of soda, and Coca-Cola. The food went quickly, and by the end, there were no leftovers.
“The food was crazy. Really nice. It was better than any dining hall I’ve been to so far,” said Galven Rivera, a first-year student at UNH.
After eating dinner, the students were led in a bachata dance lesson. While it seemed tough to follow for some, everyone enjoyed it nonetheless. The room was lively and filled with laughter as the students attempted the dance with their partners.
“It was very confusing, but eventually I figured it out,” explained Rivera.
Following the dance lesson, the night ended with freestyle dancing accompanied by a light show.
Dana Chen, a first-year student at UNH, explained that what drew her to the event was “the food, but also the people and the community.”
“They’re just like really inviting, they try to include people. And also, this is just like a good place to meet other people of color,” said Chen.
Shaylee Sarmiento and Abril Galvan, program coordinators of MOSAICO, helped plan, set up and decorate for the event and were able to shed some light on what that process looked like.
“Once the semester started and we got together, we started buying everything, and coordinating like what we’re going to do in terms of the tables, like decorations and all that. We actually started today at like 2:30 p.m. and we spent like five hours doing all that,” said Sarmiento.
In the eyes of Galvan, all their hard work paid off as she believed the event was a success.
“We definitely think it was a success, we sold out. Everyone had lots of fun and enjoyed the mariachi. It was our first time ever bringing mariachi, so I think some were surprised by that. Overall, we thought it turned out well,” said Galvan.
