If you were walking around Corbett Center around six to seven in the afternoon on Friday, Oct. 10, you might have heard shouts of excitement as others raced to yell “loteria.” In the Esports lab, many different people came to Culture Game Night to eat various foods, play games, and win prizes in honor of Latinx Heritage Month.
Culture Game Night was aimed at integrating various student groups on campus. Some of the groups involved in the program were the American Indian Program, NMSU Black Programs, Pacific Islander Program, Latin American Program, and Club MEXA.
The event featured Esports gaming, open to all students, with 20 computers available and a big screen connected to a Nintendo Switch for games like Mario Kart. The Latin American program hosted multiple Loteria games with different prizes for the winners.
“I’m really excited to see people who have never played this game before, trying to understand, trying to be competitive with each other, as we are in Mexico,” LAP member Darien Salayandia Gardea said.
The event provided food, ranging from Panda Express to flautas and enchiladas. Salayandia Gardea, involved in both his work at the Equity, Inclusion, Diversity office and the Latin American program, said the cultural exchange opportunities provided by the event made him feel closer to home.
“Being in a place where people are trying my culture and my food, it really excites me, because I really feel happy when someone has a quesadilla or enchiladas and they say they like it,” Salayandia Gardea said.
The initiative, coordinated by Esports, involved extensive research and outreach to cultural clubs, with a particular interest from Black Programs. Isaac Bettis, the Esports vice president, said the event has been in the works for a while.
“We originally began coordination in the summer, I believe, back in July. So, over time, we set a date, set a time, and we were able to, thankfully, get one here and have a decent turnout,” Bettis said.
The Student Involvement and Leadership program helped introduce the different programs to each other while the planning was happening.
“You don’t have to be a part of a lot of these cultures just to go and experience a new culture. Learning about people and other people’s cultures is always fun. It’s always a good time,” Bettis said.
The programs all hope to have more collaborations in the future. For now, all clubs are having their own events coming up.
“We definitely want to do at least a culture night again in the future, maybe change venues into a bigger, larger space, and then advertise a little bit more and see how many people we could get to it,” Bettis said.
