The new face of the Latino Coalition: Wendy De La Rosa

Wednesday night, Wharton junior Wendy De La Rosa and College junior Calina Cuevas were elected the Latino Coalition’s chairwoman and vice chairwoman for 2010.

De La Rosa, the current LC vice chairwoman, and Cuevas told The Daily Pennsylvanian that they hope to strengthen ties within the Latino community.

The Daily Pennsylvanian: What are your goals for next year?

Calina Cuevas: Empowering the Latino community [by] getting every group active and … bringing more Latinos into the LC — not just the groups, but maybe Latino students who aren’t in groups … because they are just as much part of the LC as every group is.

Wendy De La Rosa: Our second goal for the year is to really [follow] up on all of the initiatives that were started from the previous boards.

DP: Why did you run for a position on the LC board?

WD: Not a lot of people decide to re-run for the board [but] I was extremely dedicated and my personality is very politically inclined. And I thought I could best serve the Latino community through this position given my past experience [and] all the working relationships that I already have with key-administrators.

DP: What would you like LC to do differently next year?

WD: Really going out to the community and getting groups more engaged.

DP: What plans do you have to work with other groups on campus?

WD: [LC] not only [has] a commitment to the Latino community, but to the minority community in general and to the undergraduate student body … We’ve become very involved working with the [Undergraduate Assembly]. ... They’re trying to launch a program called Penn Ambassadors that [goes] out into urban communities [to] recruit students to Penn, and that’s something that … aligns with our mission of getting underrepresented minorities here at Penn, specifically Latinos.

DP: How will you encourage communication and collaboration among LC’s constituent groups?

CC: A very important thing is encouraging [collaborative] events … putting two groups together that maybe would never have been in contact with one another and have them do an event together … From there we can start bridging those gaps that are between the groups, really making a big impact.

DP: What is the greatest problem facing the Latino community at Penn?

WD: Penn’s recruitment and retention rate for Latino students … is not up to par … Fifteen percent of the U.S. population is of … Latino origin, [but] less than 7 percent of Penn’s campus is [Latino], and that’s counting both international and domestic Latinos … We want qualified Latinos at Penn — we want qualified Penn students. Other schools have systems in place. We should be able to have the same.

DP: How would you describe the presence of LC at Penn?

WD: The previous boards have done a great job at elevating the LC to where it’s at right now … We can always do more, and we will do more but we’re at a strong place right now and we want to keep it going.

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