RODRIGUEZ TO GET LULAC BACK ON TRACK POST-PANDEMIC

UA Little Rock Junior Yvonne Rodriguez doesn’t have hobbies. She has passions.

And those passions keep her busy. She’s a Donaghey Scholar, a member of the acclaimed Model Arab League, a Student Government Association Senator-at-Large, a campus peer mentor, Outreach Director for the Young Democrats and a communications intern for the House of Representatives. Oh, and she’s working with local immigration lawyers to help students find employment with HB-1 visas.

On top of it all, she is bringing the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) back to UA Little Rock.

COVID-19 rattled many student organizations on campus. When students went home, the systems that held most of the registered student organizations (RSOs) together crumbled.

LULAC was no exception. Membership took a steep decline and student engagement was all but impossible during the peak of the pandemic.

Most students at UA Little Rock have never seen a full campus after three years of COVID-19. Like any college campus, RSOs establish the culture and provide continuity to campus life. Suffice it to say that student engagement is key to making a UA Little Rock campus experience fun again.

A National LULAC Scholarship recipient herself, Rodriguez knows that LULAC must return to campus in order to keep serving Latinx students.

After all, LULAC is the largest and oldest Hispanic and LatinAmerican civil rights organization in the United States.

While Hispanic/Latinx students only make up 3.06% of the UA Little Rock student population as of the Fall 2022 semester, that still equals out almost 250 students that have an organization to represent them.

Moreover, LULAC offers scholarships, volunteer opportunities and internship opportunities for its members.

Rodriguez took the reins as president in December 2022, as elected by the rest of the LULAC student population.

Since then, membership has increased from 18 members to 32 members. But she isn’t stopping there.

She insisted on organization and structure since her election as president. One of her first moves was to create and fill officer positions.

Stephanie Sandoval was elected as her vice president, Oreana Roman was elected as her secretary, Maria Avalos was elected the social media manager, Brayan Arias was elected as recruiting coordinator, Maria Roman was elected treasurer and Dajany Cano was elected the event/volunteer coordinator. She also has a strong plan to increase engagement.

LULAC sold cantaritos, Mexican clay mugs, at WorldFest with the Multicultural Center on March 29 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. LULAC will also host a Noche De Baile on April

6 (tentative) from 5-7 p.m. in one of the Ledbetter Suites. You can find updates on their Instagram profile at lulac_council771.

BY BRYAN HERNANDEZ