Diana Vall-Llobera '10, a native of Puerto Rico, is used to kissing people "hello." The American tradition of shaking hands strikes her as stiff and foreign — and it's only one of the cultural differences she has encountered since coming to Princeton.
To help students like Vall-Llobera adjust to life at the University, Accion Latina has launched a mentoring program for Hispanic students. Uno Pa'l Otro, Spanish for "one looking out for each other," gives students a support network as well as a chance to meet one another.
"It surprised me how helpful it's been," Vall-Llobera said, adding that she initially thought the program might be no different from having a residential college adviser. "I didn't think I would go to it as often as I have, and I didn't think I would need that reassurance or safety net."
Peter Varela '08, president of Accion Latina, first mentioned the desire to have a program like Uno Pa'l Otro after Hispanic Magazine ranked the University second best in the country for Latino students. He said in a Daily Princetonian article that Accion Latina was hoping to start up a mentoring program similar to the Black Student Union's Leadership and Mentoring Program (LAMP).
Both Varela and David Feliciano '08, vice president of Accion Latina, said they could have used such a program when they were freshmen.
"There was no one I could write an email to," Varela said, and no "person I could level with, especially from a Latino perspective." To have had a program such as Uno Pa'l Otro "would have been nice," he added.
Feliciano also said he had a hard time finding a sense of familiarity. "I felt like when I first arrived here as a freshman, I was struggling to find my Hispanic community here on campus. I was really homesick and missed some of the things I was used to," he said.
Varela started the program by emailing between 25 and 30 students, whose email addresses he found on Facebook, and received a very positive response. Freshmen wrote back with their background and with what kind of mentor they wanted to work, and were subsequently paired current members of the board of Accion Latina, former members and students affiliated with the program.
"We just want to provide the freshmen now [with] what we didn't necessarily get our freshman year," Varela said. The main goal is to "make the transition as easy as possible for incoming students."
Mentors provide advice on everything from what classes to take to where to find good Latin food. Vall-Llobera said she goes to her mentor "when [she's] feeling homesick" as well.
Accion Latina has also invited advisees to a salsa party.
"I felt very in my element," Vall-Llobera said. "It was a great way to meet people."
Uno Pa'l Otro has largely remained a part of Accion Latina since its inception this year, but Varela said he hopes the program will eventually grow to more than 60 members and "stand alone as its own group [with] its own identity. Ideally that would be something we look forward to."
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