Valentine’s Day weekend, nine members of Baldwin Wallace University’s Hispanic American Student Association (HASA) and one graduate student,  Lauren Ryan, traveled over to the Hispanic Leadership Conference in Chicago, Illinois.
At the conference, they were greeted by a large group of students from all around the country coming to celebrate Hispanic culture all around the nation. The annual conference this year focused on Latino’s in politics and how the Latino generation could start getting involved with the democratic system and voting.
HASA, founded in 1985, is a multicultural student organization that has been dedicated to educating the campus and community on Latino culture and issues that affect the Hispanic American population. The organization also aims to  promote  Latino  empowerment.
Throughout the weekend, there were different activities, shows, and speakers such as Gaddi Vasquez, Bill Richardson, who was the first Latino to run for president, Henry Lacayo, the highest ranking Latina in the United States Military, and Ivelissa Estrada, the senior Vice President.
The different activities involved students interacting with one another and thinking about all they can do with their futures, such as one titled “Are you Career Ready?”
Overall, the trip involved the group meeting many Hispanic American leaders in the community and discovering a lot about themselves and about the lives of Hispanic Americans all around the country.
Junior Enrique Sondakh-Dorantes, the president of HASA, said his favorite part was, “how every political leader wanted us to believe in ourselves and to do great things after the conference.”
HASA sends a big thank you to Student Government and Diversity Affairs for helping fund the trip.
Also HASA wishes to give a big thank you to Lauren Ryan for all of her help as a supportive member of diversity on campus and on the trip. Sondakh-Dorantes hopes to be able to raise enought money to go to  the leadership conference next year.
To learn more about HASA or any of the other multicultural groups on campus visit multicultural student services at  118 Beech  Street or call (440) 826-8520.