At Shadow Ridge High School, the Latinx Student Union (LSU) is more than just a club. It’s a vibrant community where students celebrate their heritage, support one another, and promote cultural awareness within the school. The LSU plays a crucial role in fostering a sense of belonging for Latinx students. Through regular meetings and cultural events, members connect with their roots and share their experiences within the inspiring club.
Junior Esmeralda Amador is the Historian for LSU and has never been more proud to be a part of a club that embraces her community. She plays a strong and crucial role to create a sense of belonging for students who feel underappreciated or underrepresented. From a serious club meeting to an event, Amador adores the energy LSU students bring to the function. Amador and other students in LSU share a family like bond with one another and no one is ever left out. Amador shares her interest for LSU with friends who seem interested in joining LSU. Joining LSU not only made Amador embrace her family’s culture more, but it made her more involved within the community.
Amador encourages everyone to come out and become part of LSU, she recommends it for students who are considering joining clubs and don’t know what to join. She believes LSU has emerged as a vibrant and vital organization, significantly impacting students and fostering a strong sense of cultural identity. Not only that, but the friendships and the family like bond that LSU builds is something like no other club can ever have.
“LSU is able to provide a safe space for students who may feel underappreciated or underrepresented at Shadow,” Amador shares. ”By giving these students an opportunity to use their voices, LSU can amplify participation and interaction throughout our student body. The most rewarding outcome of leading LSU is helping students feel that they have a place at school, which promotes unity and inclusion at Shadow, everyone deserves a seat at the table.”
Senior Josef Castro is the President of LSU and has been a part of the club for 2 years now. He believes the overall success in the club has increased member’s social skills; many members are eager to participate in many school events to ensure the culture is seen and heard around the school campus. Castro defines LSU as welcoming and warm and he stresses that students don’t have to be Hispanic in order to join LSU, it’s very diverse and accepting.
Castro states, “LSU improves the social experience for students by showing them you can have fun in your own skin. We show that even though we look different we come together and make something special.”
