The Latino Student Association and the Diversity Advisory Committee (DAC) Subcommittee: Immigrant Experience at UCA hosted a virtual “Paint Your Heritage” event on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 1:40 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. 

The event was put together as an opportunity for students to paint a flag of their country of choice while also coming together in a covid-safe way to celebrate their heritage. 

“A flag is not just a symbol, but also a way for a country to portray itself to the rest of the world. It identifies their values, beliefs and history in different ways. With this event, our UCA international students, faculty and staff are able to connect. Meanwhile, our UCA domestic students, faculty and staff will be able to learn about students who are from other countries and express their knowledge and/or desire to learn about another country,” Maria Negrete Padron, assistant director of the Office of Diversity and Community said about the event. 

Students were able to pick up all of the materials that they needed to paint their flags in Bernard Hall before the event began. 

At the beginning of the event, trivia icebreakers were asked to participating students about different country’s flags. Each student got an opportunity to answer questions about the flags and share their knowledge with other students. 

Students were then divided into multiple breakout rooms on Zoom to share what flag they chose to paint and why. 

Junior Mariandree Ramirez chose to paint the Guatemalan flag. She explained that she was excited to visit Guatemala in May. 

Junior Daniela Jimenez, who chose to paint the Mexican flag, said, “I love Mexico so much, and I’m so proud of being Mexican.” 

After sharing, students in breakout rooms had an opportunity to chat and get to know each other better. Students talked to each other about their majors and their interests while they finished painting their flags. 

Multiple students talked about their struggles to find people at UCA who could understand and relate to their heritage. Many students also expressed their gratitude for events like “Paint Your Heritage” because it gave students the opportunity to talk about related issues. 

“The overall message is that we want our UCA community to be aware of the many different nationalities that are represented here at UCA. Regardless of COVID-19, we want to provide our students with different unique opportunities to connect with each other,” Padron said. 

Towards the end of the event, the breakout rooms ended. Students were all brought together again to show off their finished flag paintings. 

Students exchanged encouraging comments and jokes towards each other as the event was ending.