BY GILLIAN PETRARCA ’23
On Nov. 13, the Eliana Ortega Cultural Center, which serves Latinx students, held a 24th birthday celebration. The event was open to students, faculty, alumnae and staff.
“It’s so nice to see such a great turn out for our birthday celebration,” the director of the Eliana Ortega House, Ysabel Garcia said. “I spent a lot of time gathering articles from archives detailing our history, so before you all eat I welcome everyone to take a look at the articles and learn more about the history of Ortega House.”
The Eliana Ortega Cultural House officially opened on Nov. 15, 1995. Prior to the opening of the Ortega House, La Unidad met in the basement of Wilder. However, the basement constantly flooded. As a result, the group was granted a house on Morgan Street before being given the Ortega House. The Ortega House is now the meeting center for both La Unidad and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), Mount Holyoke’s Latinx student organizations.
“We began planning this event a little over a month and a half ago. We really wanted to take the time to celebrate and honor the cultural house. Over that time, I ordered food, searched for articles in archives, worked on invitations and sent out invites. We wanted to get as many people out to celebrate the Ortega House because it means a lot to us,” Alisa Lopez ’22, the cultural assistant at the Ortega Center said.
While walking around looking at articles about its history, students shared what the Ortega House means to them.
“I come to the Ortega for La Unida’s meetings. The Ortega is just a safe space where I can be with my people and do or say anything,” said Maria Monterroso ’22. “I think it’s important to celebrate the birthday of the Ortega House because the Latinx community here wasn’t always like this. It wasn’t always this big. It took a long time for this community to be created and I think it’s important to celebrate what we have now because of what was created in the past.”
“At the Ortega, I feel like I am closest to home,” Carola Oliveras ’22 said. “I am from Puerto Rico, so it’s nice to be involved in La Unidad, which I am the secretary of. I am really thankful for the people that created this space, it’s important to acknowledge the history of the Ortega and acknowledge what they did.”
“I come to the Ortega often, whether that be homework hours or for La Unida and MECha meetings,” Arianna Ortiz ’23 said. “The Ortega is a really good space to meet people because we all have something in common.”
The event concluded with singing, dancing and birthday cake.
“I think it is important we celebrate the 24th birthday because it is a big accomplishment. I hope we celebrate many more,” Ortiz said.