Uniting AULA with Sofia Oudri

As we begin to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Andrews University, one club on campus has plenty of school wide events planned to educate and immerse us into the many facets of Hispanic culture that the club represents. This year’s president, Sofia, tells us more about her ambitions for AULA and how her personal identity ties into the events and themes of the club.

Please introduce yourself to us!
My name is Sofia Oudri, and I'm a junior. I'm studying Exercise Science PBT and I am the president of the AULA university Association.

How did you become president of AULA?
AULA is in some ways a newer social cultural club, as AULA kind of took on “Adelante” and became a part of it, because before that we had more separation between the two clubs. So that being said, even though it seems like the Latino presence in clubs has been around for a while, we are building up and becoming more structured. So for me, running for president was not really campaigning in the traditional sense. It was more so showing an interest to the previous officers and the sponsor of the year prior and it's appointed that way. I would like to have more interactions with club members and maybe start having elected positions and whatnot in the future. But for me, it was just appointed by last year's president and the sponsor.

What made you interested in becoming the president this year?
Last year, I had a lot of fun in the club as the graphic designer. With my position, I would have to reach out to a lot of people and create graphics for social media while working with the PR person. Because of that, I realized how much I liked leadership roles and being someone who kind of sees what areas are people's strong suits. I enjoy seeing that this person has more of a strength in this particular area, so saying maybe we should assign this position to them or whatever and that's how my mind works. I was very involved in our club last year because of all the work that I had to do for it, and Brandon Alvarez (senior, business and chemistry) and I worked together a lot promoting events, setting up for events, and just networking with people in general. It wasn’t something that felt like a job because I enjoyed it so much. And whenever there was any kind of bump in the road for our events last year, I would make a mental note of it and think, okay, next year, we have to prepare for it by this time or have these resources ready. So even since last year I was interested in being more involved. There were also really great people that I got to work with, and I started connecting with other people that were going to be in leadership positions this year. I thought that having those connections would be really awesome to have for future collaborative events. Obviously I didn't think I was the perfect person for the job but I knew that if I was able to get the position, I definitely had a vision for how I would do things. I want to make sure things aren’t super hectic for everybody and make it like a really enjoyable organization to be a part of.

Do you have any goals for yourself and for the club overall during this year?
Absolutely I do. Obviously I want to be focused on this year and events for this year, but my main goal is to set things up so that next year, whoever the team that we hand things off to can have an easier time running things. I'd also love to create some kind of outreach organization for the Latino community here as a whole. I mean, we make up maybe about a fifth of university students and there's also a lot of need in the communities locally, which is something that we helped out with last year though Change Day. Overall, I want to make sure people can all appreciate Hispanic culture and we can start that by having a great Hispanic Heritage month with all our different events.

Is there anything you're looking to change from last year?
Besides what I already mentioned, I would say I want to broaden our structure, because we have our team of officers but to have a more of an organized structure that we can keep from year to year. Obviously I don’t want to completely change it from the way it is now, but just helping in any way that we can to make it a more stable structured organization than when we first started. In the beginning, we didn’t really know how many people would sign up honestly, but now that it’s a pretty big club on campus, it means we have a lot more to manage. For events, I'd like to have a lot of them throughout the year. Hispanic Heritage Month is where we have our big debut and make our presence known, but throughout the year we want to have pop up events where students can learn Hispanic culture in a hands-on way. It might be things like learning the music, learning art, food, and dancing. Speakers are great, but at the end of the day, sometimes people don't learn as much from a lecture than from a more hands-on activity. We want people to be able to experience Hispanic culture, not just hear about it.

What are some of the events you have planned for this month?
We have the back to school social on Friday on September 22 where we all come together, chill in front of Buller and paint some tote bags, relax, and eat some fruit. We also have different co-curriculars planned for the entire month including one where we will collaborate with BSCF. Each of the co-curriculars is going to be under our theme for the year, ‘Estamos Unidos,’ which is a way of bringing together the many countries that we represent and what we have in common instead of focusing on one at a time. We also have a collaboration with Impact, and I'm really excited for that. And of course we have Noche Latina, and that’s basically a showcase of Latin performance and food, but the details of that is going to be a surprise for everyone. There’s also a partnered event with Genesis, the Latino church service that we have on campus, and that's most of the events that I can remember so far. Make sure that you’re all checking our instagram page for more updates and information on any pop up events! (ig: aulassociation)

What does ‘Hispanic heritage’ mean to you personally, and has that definition changed for you over the years?
That question is one that has kind of stayed on my mind, especially as we were all thinking of the theme for the year, because what does the word heritage really mean? I mean, you could be born somewhere and identify with a certain group or your parents could be from a specific culture but you live somewhere else outside of that. You could also know the language or not be able to speak it. So for me, you could be in any of those situations but still be under the umbrella term of Hispanic. Our theme of Estamos Unidos was chosen because some people feel like they're half and half. A lot of people feel connected to their Hispanic roots, but there’s also so many that feel like they are in an in-between space. So for me, Hispanic heritage expands the umbrella of what it means to be Hispanic to include people like that and encourages people to not lose touch with their roots. Even if you’ve felt that you don’t really belong, I want everyone to feel like they do with our club and also with Hispanic culture in general. I encourage myself and others to not let the knowledge of our culture die out and to be really proud of it. Sometimes people will ask me about the history or the culture of where I'm from, and I have to admit that I don't know all of it, and that’s okay. Being second generation and the child of my parents who grew up in South America, I wasn't exposed to as much culture as them, but that doesn’t take away from the importance of my experiences either. So I’ve learned to appreciate my own heritage and be proud of my own unique heritage.