The PUENTE Project, a program for transfer students at American River College, hosted the first cultural event in the New Student Center: Promoción de Educación Scholarship Fundraiser (to promote education). The fundraiser featured live music and dancing.
The event, which christened the new facility, featured live music by the mariachi group UCLAtán from Los Angeles, and Grupo Folklorico Los Alteños a Mexican dance troupe from the Sacramento area. The proceeds received from this fundraiser go to the PUENTE Project and help fund scholarships for students.
UCLAtán is the oldest student mariachi group in the world, with a diverse history spanning fifty years. They compete in high level musical competitions around California and in Mexico. Composed of ten musicians, the group uses only three alumni, and several were first year students. They played a variety of mariachi music with fast paced pieces and slow ballads.
Los Alteños are a local dancing group from Sacramento. Folklorico dancing is very high energy and utilizes colorful, long, flowing dresses which give it a unique look and style. There were two dancing sets. One, with only four dancers, featured a male dancer who appeared waving his cloak like a matador. The second set brought out nine women in different colored dresses which flowed around like streamers as they danced.
Manuel Ruedas, a counselor for the PUENTE program at ARC, coordinated the event. Over 200 people attended. Among the attendees were many notable faculty and administrators, including Pam Walker, vice president of student services, and Will Davis, director of Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA.) Both the PUENTE project and MESA are tools for students to use while in college to better prepare them for transferring to a university. MESA focuses on science and engineering, while PUENTE focuses on Latino culture.
The PUENTE project has been in California for thirty years. This is the tenth year of the program at ARC. The program is open to all students, and offers alternative classroom curriculum focused on Latino literature and culture. The program also does outreach with volunteers and gives students the opportunity to attend leadership conferences. The PUENTE Project is located in the new Student Center within the Hub.
The high energy performers were very talented and usually had the audience clapping or cheering along. The event used the dining area of the Student Center, which seemed almost unrecognizable with a stage, sound system, and large number of chairs. Ruedas noted that he and other groups on campus look forward to the next cultural event in the Student Center.
