Club Feature: El Grito de Lares
El Grito De Lares / Instagram
El Grito de Lares is a Latinx socio-cultural student organization at Fordham University Rose Hill. Interestingly, it is one of the campus's oldest and most well-known clubs. El Grito has offered students at Fordham a safe and fun environment through meetings and events. Moreover, El Grito’s engagement has earned them the United Student Government’s Club of the Month award for the past two years!
The organization holds bi-weekly meetings that usually contain food, activities, and discussions about current or historical events centered around Latinx people. A few of the meetings that have been held over this school year include a Loteria meeting in the fall, where students played the famous Mexican game and discussed the reimagination of Loteria art in the United States. El Grito also held a Jeopardy! competition in the spring to discuss the African Diaspora in Latin America during Black History Month. More recently, El Grito met with a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department representative who heard directly from El Grito members about changes Fordham can make to create a better place for its Latinx community.
At the same time, El Grito hosts huge school-wide events and collaborations with other clubs. During the spring semester, El Grito collaborated with ASILI, Rose Hill’s Black Student Alliance, to discuss BIPOC in the workplace and FUSE for a HOLI x Easter Bash on Martyrs Lawn!
Nevertheless, El Grito is extremely excited to announce its biggest event of the spring semester: Latin Gala! This event will be held in the Great Hall from 7-10 p.m. on Friday, April 21st. This semi-formal event is entirely free and open to all Fordham students. Latin Gala is a great end-of-the-year celebration with food catering from Ajo y Oregano and Magnolia Bakery, a performance from Candela Latina, and a great DJ moving the party along!
When arriving at Fordham, many think this club is only for Puerto Rican students because of El Grito de Lares’ direct translation, “The Cry of Lares.” Lares, a famous town in Puerto Rico, plays an essential role in the island’s political history because of a key rebellion that started on September 23, 1868. Unfortunately, the name discourages many students from participating in the club. However, “El Grito de Lares” represents ALL Latinx pride, strength, and bravery!
El Grito de Lares hopes to provide Latinx students at Fordham a community space to share their ideas and use their voices to advocate for themselves at Fordham while also enjoying great club meetings and events! If anyone wants to learn more, follow @elgritodelares on Instagram for updates!