LHSU was founded in the Fall of 2019 but because of Covid, we had to transition to online. This past 2021 fall semester was the first time that LHSU was able to program and host events in person since the Fall of 2019.

Some of our recent accomplishments include securing an internal and external budget for the 2021-22 school year, creating partnerships across campus with some departments such as the Multicultural Center, Career Center, Counseling for Diverse Students, and IDEA and connecting with the other Latinx/Hispanic student organizations in our umbrella. We had our first ever “Ritmo de UNT” where we celebrated the different music that our culture has and we used this event as a way to educate and continue growing a community on campus. In addition, this year our philanthropy has been “LHSU Fights for Hunger” so our organization has done community service projects such as distributing bagged lunches over Denton. We also had our first ever LHSU 5K where we collected non-perishable goods to contribute to the UNT Food Pantry.

For the spring, LHSU wants to focus on creating a more connected Latinx/Hispanic student body in order to bring our community closer and emphasize that we, as an organization and our umbrella organizations, are all safe places for our members. Creating programs and spaces for our students to feel empowered, a place for them to be unapologetically themselves but also providing resources to them is always our goal. We are looking forward to connecting and collaborating with different student organizations and departments to create programs that advocate for our DACA students, mental health, cultural awareness and discuss topics affecting our communities and how we can help.

We believe that our Latinx/Hispanic students want to feel welcomed on this campus, represented and to have their voices heard. Many of our students have voiced their concerns that they do not feel represented on this campus and that the HSI status that UNT now has should be used to bring awareness, additional resources and funding to advocate and support our community. Many times, student organizations are the only places that our students feel welcomed because they do not feel that the UNT community does a good job including our Latinx community in programming events across campus besides Hispanic Heritage Month and Día De Los Muertos.