SAN JOSE, CALIF. —The Latino Student Union (LSU) has restituted at Silver Creek this school year following a name change from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A) last year.

LSU, as implied by its name, is all about creating and encouraging students to get involved and interact with Latino culture and traditions through events and activities held by the club. The objective of all of this is to unite the Latin student community at the school as many of the officers agreed that there tends to be a feeling of division between many of the students of that background when they should be unified. 

The club is mainly run by a board of class officers who are all current students. The board consists of  President Daisy Flores, Vice-President Lizette Anaya, Secretary Cristy Serrano, Event Coordinator Jayla Rodriguez, Treasurer Pao Sanchez, and Publicist Sarai Gonzalez. They are the ones who make sure the aforementioned events and meetings go smoothly and as planned.

Photo Credit: Juan Zaragoza Magaña

On top of sharing culture, the club is also focused on encouraging its members to stay on top of their academics. This goal is one that the club runner, Alberto Camacho, has been dedicated to since the beginning of his teaching career. The low number of Latin students enrolled in Advanced Placement classes is one issue that he has brought up to the officers and club members and that the officers have even seen firsthand. “It would be just me and like one other person,” said Sanchez in reference to how many Latin students would be in attendance in an A.P. class.

The regular activity of the club this year is in direct contrast to how it was last year. When it was known as M.E.Ch.A., the club was dormant for the majority of the school year. Only one meeting was held from September to May. Even extra things like senior stoles which will be available for the class of 2025, and had also been offered in previous years for graduates, were not offered for students from the class of 2024. The disorganization was mainly due to the dysfunctional officer board last year. It was almost entirely new since the previous officers had all graduated that spring. “All the people running it were seniors, everyone that was part of it left,” said Gonzalez.

For the previous year, the intention was originally to collaborate and work with the M.E.Ch.A. club that operated at San Jose State University. This plan did not come to fruition and ultimately the decision was made to switch the name back to Latino Student Union.  They felt it was best to start with a clean slate this year and bring back the original name. Another motivator for the reversal was that because “M.E.Ch.A stood for Chicano something and a lot of people didn’t feel included,” Gonzalez said. 

Only two months in, LSU is already much more concentrated than it ever was in last year. While the inactivity last year was not planned, it did happen which became a motivation for some of the new officers to want to step up. Gonzalez, who was an officer last year as well said that “it felt bad seeing that we were so unsuccessful,” especially when comparing to other clubs also made for other ethnic groups at the school. 

 The process of running the club is rewarding for both the officers and the members now that the club has begun thriving. “If you’re happy where you come from and you’re proud of it, that is what inspires to give more to your community,” said Serrano.

#LatinoStudentUnion #LSU #AlbertoCamacho #M.E.Ch.A # SJSU #Clubs #Latino #Chicano #Latinx #A.P. #Academics #return #camacho #officers