Starting in the spring semester, Chaminade will be welcoming a new club called Student Organization of Latinx (SOL).

SOL has not officially started yet, said first-year-student Katherine Gonzalez, who is the president of SOL. Gonzalez said that the club is looking to start in the spring semester but has been planing the club since October.

SOL hopes to raise awareness about the social issues within the Spanish, Latina community and bring the community together in Hawaii.

“The goal is mostly to make it feel like a home away from home,” said Gonzalez, who was born and raised in Los Angeles. “[It is] for those who are not use to being in a not-so-Latino community and just for people to know about the Hispanic/Latino community [here] and bring awareness to the social problems that are happening in the respective countries. Like in Chile, there is a protest going on for the government, also in Peru there is another protest about the government, but not a lot of it is known, so our club just wants social issues to be known and to educate people on Hispanic/Latino culture and just spread awareness.”

Having many different ethnicities represented on the Chaminade campus, Gonzalez – who is of Mexican descent – wanted to bring her own taste of home and culture to Hawaii. She had spoke to many different people trying to get the club going and having them encourage her, she started go through the process of trying to get the club going not knowing that there were other just like her, looking to start the club. With the help of Joseph, the girls were able to connect and start the club altogether.

“I want to start a Hispanic/Latino club, because that is one of the only culture clubs that we don’t have,” she said.

Gonzalez said that there are about 20 to 25 people, that she knows about, who are interested in signing up for the club, but there may be more people.

“I know that there are a bunch of Hispanic/Latino students who come to the school who would be interested in joining the club,” she said.

Ringing in the new year with a new club, Gonzalez said that SOL is looking to have the first meeting in January and a club event in February. The club is also thinking about performing at CUH’s Extravaganza, which is typically held every April.

“When the semester starts, we’re going to put our flyers about the club for people to know about it and going to send out an email for our very first meeting,” she said.

Gonzalez said that in February, the club is planing to host a salsa dancing social event.

“It is just going to be some of us teaching you guys how to salsa [for] about an hour or two,” Gonzalez said. “Then the second or third hour would be just everyone socializing and getting to know about salsa and where it came from, which country started it all and what the dance is really about. It is going to be pretty much a social event.”

Students who are interested in joining the club or are looking for more information can contact Gonzalez at [email protected].