Día de los Muertos Brings Two Clubs Together

Tayshawn Johnson | Writer

Event ofrenda

LCCC’s Art Club and Latin@ Leadership Club collaborated to celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on Wednesday, Oct. 22, on the main campus in Schnecksville.

Dia de los Muertos is a holiday when friends and family members gather to celebrate and honor the lives of the deceased. The tradition originated in Mexico and is now widely celebrated by people of Mexican descent around the world. It is a time to remember and pay respects to loved ones who have passed on by creating altars where family members give offerings to the deceased, also known as ofrendas. These altars are adorned with decorative skulls known as calaveras, as well as marigold flowers known as cempazúchitl.

The event was held from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and had a $5 admission fee that covered all food and activities. They offered several activities, including decorating calavera cookies and coloring sheets, board games, and live music. The main dish served was arroz con pernil, made by the Latin@ Leadership Club President and co-organizer of the event, Coral Alcantara-Gutierrez.

This event was the first collaborative event for both the Art Club and the Latin@ Leadership Club.

“I wanted to do a collaboration event with other clubs, and I think it was a great way to make the students in my club connect with other people, because I have a lot of first-year students in the club,” Alcantara-Gutierrez said. 

Art Club President and co-organizer of the event, Madyi Spadt, said the event was important to her and that she put a lot of effort into making it go smoothly.

“This was Art Club’s first-ever collaboration, and honestly, I was all over the place,” she said.  “I’m still new to running a club, so this was a big learning experience for me. I had to figure out how to buy things with club funds, how to communicate with another club, how to make sure we had all the supplies we needed, and much more. In the end, we put a lot of effort into the creation of this event. It was super important to me when the time came to host it.” 

The event was not only a celebration of Dia de los Muertos but also a milestone for both clubs. Organizers hope this sets a precedent for other LCCC student clubs to hold collaborative events like this in the future.