Student leaders reflect on community impact.
The University of Tulsa’s Latin American Student Association officially kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month with an unforgettable cultural celebration Friday night, hosting its annual Festival de Las Flores at the Lorton Performance Center. The event drew a large crowd of students, faculty and local community members, transforming the venue into a hub of live entertainment, authentic cuisine and traditional activities.
The festival opened at 6:00 p.m. with the vibrant, traditional sounds of Mariachi Tulsa filling the air as attendees entered for a culinary tour of Latin America. The event featured catering from local favorites Inkantano Peruvian Food, Taqueria la Raza and Neveria y Paleteria La Tropical. Alongside the main dining options, LASA organized an Agua Frescas Fundraiser, serving up traditional Jamaica, Horchata and Sandia flavors to support future student programming.
The culinary choices were a major draw for the student body, with the first 200 students to arrive receiving free food tickets. “It was like a tentative 10 out of 10,” said sophomore accounting major Yadira Granados. “I finished it all. I enjoyed it.”
Beyond the food, the first hour of the festival offered interactive cultural activities. Attendees crowded around tables for custom cantarito (pottery) painting, snapped photos at a dedicated photo booth and participated in high-stakes rounds of Loteria (Mexican bingo), featuring various prizes like Mexican candy bags and free tumblers.
LASA Vice President Jehovany Sanchez noted that the seamless execution of the complex, multi-faceted evening was the result of exhaustive student coordination that began months before the fall semester opened. “It took everybody on our exec team to organize this event,” Sanchez said. “We were so determined to create an event that was much better than last year, so we planned it out the entire summer.”
At 7:00 p.m., the energy shifted from the lobby to the main stage as the audience gathered for a series of dance showcases. The festival featured distinct, back-to-back routines from three regional groups — Latin Dance 918, Tierra Mestiza and Danza Guadalupana la Resurrection — each highlighting unique choreographic traditions and traditional attire from across Latin America. The performances captivated the auditorium, generating multiple rounds of thunderous applause as the vivid colors of the dancers’ traditional skirts and the rhythmic precision of their footwork brought the rich history of individual regions to life on stage.
For the executive board, seeing the community fill the LPC justified their long hours of summer preparation. “Overall, I think the festival was nothing short of an absolute student body success!” said Social Media Director Adam Williams. “We were able to bring the community, students and faculty together in one place to celebrate culture and heritage.” The cultural showcase served as a powerful reminder of the diverse perspectives that inform the university ecosystem. The night concluded with an open-floor dance social from 8:00 to 8:30 p.m., as the audience joined the performers in the central lobby of the LPC for a free-dancing session to cap off a night marked by campus unity and cultural pride.
