Written By: Sakura Snyder, Staff Writer
INSPIRING: MEChA promotes Hispanic culture and inclusivity at Poly.
In 1969, Chicano students gathered around at a UC Santa Barbara conference to fight back against the obstacles that they were facing during the Civil Rights Movement. Naming it Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or for short, MEChA, they wanted to unify the student force nationwide in spite of their struggles. The rest is history. MEChA became a widespread and well-known organization amongst many campuses in the nation, with junior middle schools, high schools and other educational centers having successfully curated MEChA organizations available to their own selective communities. Even here at Poly, we have our very own MEChA club, led by strong leadership that strives to spread inclusivity.
Isaac Villegas (11), the current president of this board, carries on many of the various tasks and responsibilities that the position entails. However, he was not always appointed to this position. “Before sophomore year, I was not officially a part of the cabinet,” he explains. However, everything changed when his advisor at the time offered him a position as a vice president. “They were scouting for one, so the advisor wanted to know if I wanted to…I accepted at the end, because I wanted to be more involved with the culture.” Officially becoming the newly established cabinet member in sophomore year, his contributions to the board seemed to be a success, as he was transferred ownership of the club as a president the following year.
Villegas and his other board members have since then organized a variety of different successful club events, such as a mural painting that they recently worked on in the 600s hallway. “That has honestly become one of our favorites,” Villegas says. “It is a collaborative event, our legacy is [actively] being painted on the wall.” Other than the mural painting, another culturally influential event that the club has coordinated is the Días de Los Muertos stand, where they used face paint and made an altar. MEChA has also done collaborations with other clubs such as the Asian Student Union, where they did a crossover potluck to mark and celebrate the end of the second semester. Above all events, Villegas believes that MEChA’s most significant event at Poly is their annual banquet night. “It is when we celebrate seniors moving onto other things after high school,” he marks. By sashing the seniors, the club is able to mark these seniors’ remarkable accomplishments and promising ambition for the future.
Even though Villegas’s overall goal as president is still to guide his club through the process of embracing Hispanic culture, he points out that they have been pushing themselves to be more politically engaged and active. “We [would like] to transition into a more activist state because of the turmoil in our country,” he reveals. With an ever so rapidly changing nation, Villegas believes it to be increasingly important for the club to stay committed in their fight for equality.
As Villegas puts it himself: “We want to open the doors to whoever is interested in the club, our culture and community.” If you care about being engaged with the Hispanic community, while also celebrating fun holidays and events, you should definitely consider joining!