On campus with LU

This year was particularly difficult for me to determine an on campus event to attend. I was not satisfied by just stretching my normal habits by going to a concert or musicale or some lecture that I ultimately will find interesting. So I spent the better half of the past semester about how I could really stretch myself (practically on campus) to see college opportunities through a different light. While I was talking to one of my friends about my dilemma she asked me what kind of things interested me. We started talking about the different organizations on campus. We talked about how great organizations were for finding friends with similar interests. Soon after the conversation, I expressed interest in attending one of her meetings, for the organization of Latinos Unitos. I choose that organization because it seemed the most different from the groups I am involved with. The meeting I attended was the first meeting of the semester so the members spent the time planning out events for the year. They talked about three main events that they wanted to see happen during the year. Looking back on the year it was cool to see the events materialize. One of the events that was discussed was the Cesar Chavez dinner. The dinner was taken place on the national Cesar Chavez day. Cesar Chavez is a legacy for promoting civil rights. He was also and educator and an environmentalist. The national holiday was the perfect opportunity for the students to inform other students about a person that has been so influential in their culture. It was cool to see students that are so passionate about their culture and so willing to expand their culture to other students at the university. I thought of the organizations that I am involved with. The closest organization I am involved in that could compare is fellowship of christen athletes (FCA). We try to inform others about what we believe in just how LU tries to inform others how their culture was developed. We also take advantage of our meetings to freely talk about what we believe in. I think that in today’s society Christens have several stereotypes just like how other cultures have stereotypes. It is nice to see fellow students reaching out to not necessarily break the stereotypes but to just inform others what their culture is all about and what makes it special. It seems to be human nature to have a place where you fit in. Having these organizations helps students find other students with similar passions. It is nice to live in a country where an expression for ones culture is allowed. I was just talking to my FCA group about how privileged we are to be allowed to fully express our beliefs in Christ without being thrown into jail or shunned from society. Many people take these privileges for granted and some just don’t take advantages of the privilege. I used to be one, a “closet Christen” I now refer to my days of private worship and prayer. This group meeting I went to showed me just how many people are not taking anything in their past for granted and are proud of their background.

I also couldn’t help but note on the group dynamics. When volunteering for tasks I picked up on certain people volunteering together. I guess “cliques” exist everywhere. I want to see if I could sit in some other organizations meetings, just to see how different groups on campus interact with each other.