After being re-elected as next year’s president, Marcus Arredondo certainly has his hands full as the leader of Alpha Psi Lambda, Ohio State’s first and largest co-ed Hispanic-interest fraternity.
The 22-year-old senior in marketing and international business does not limit his membership and leadership to Alpha Psi Lambda. He is also a member of several other Hispanic organizations on campus, such as the Hispanic Business Student Association, while carrying out his duties as the Vice President of the University Council of Hispanic Organizations.
“My main goal next year is going to be concentrating on recruiting more incoming Hispanic freshmen students, because a lot of times they don’t get quickly acclimated to the environment of such a large university and can’t find the support that they need. We want to be able to unite with them, to share our experiences and to guide them along the right path,” Arredondo said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic population now comprises about 31.7 million, or 11.7 percent of America’s population. They have accounted for 37 percent of the country’s population growth between 1990 and 1999, making it the fastest growing minority group in the country. The census projects that by 2050, Hispanics will represent 24 percent of the total U.S. population.
Arredondo said that even though OSU’s Hispanic student population is rapidly growing, it still only encompasses about 2 percent of the students here.
“The population for Hispanic students at OSU usually hovers around 2 percent, and the number ranges from about 900-1000 students. Even though it sounds like a large number, it is really not a lot when compared to the other 49,000 students here. That’s why we want to help new students coming in to realize they do have support whether they join a fraternity or not,” Arredondo said.
He has been recognized this month by Hispanic Student Services and Ethnic Student Services for his outstanding participation in leadership in campus and community service, which are awards given to students who go above and beyond the call of duty to help out in the community and campus.
Carmen Alvarez-Breckenridge, Coordinator of Hispanic Student Services, acknowledged that Arredondo’s accomplishments are invaluable to the Hispanic community and that he was very deserving of the award.
“I have always seen him as a strong and eloquent leader and spokesman for the Hispanic community,” she said.
The group has sponsored several community service activities and its participants through the Ronald McDonald House, homeless shelters and a tutoring program for children at local schools.
During Hispanic Awareness month, they also participated in a number of activities, such as El Dia de Los Ninos, and passed out flyers to the Hispanic population at Lincoln Park West in Spanish, instead of English, urging the community to support the children.
Although there is already a mentoring and tutoring program in place from the Office of Minority Affairs, Arredondo’s next term will focus on establishing a new mentoring program to begin autumn quarter through Alpha Psi Lambda.
“There are some mentoring programs through OMA and we would like to work hard on implementing our own program to work one on one with new Hispanic and Latino students to get them used to Ohio State,” he said. “We base our fraternity around the family theme; these are our actual brothers and sisters and we look out for each other. That’s why we want to make an extra effort to reach out to incoming freshmen students,” he said.
Some members of Alpha Psi Lambda, including Internal Vice President, Alexandra Trebino, are very pleased with the leadership Arredondo has provided during his presidency and are confident that he will be even more successful as the fraternity expands.
“We’ve really increased our activities this year,” said Trebino. “In the past we’ve been less active, but recently we’ve really increased our productivity level and participation and that’s largely because Marcus is so committed to his goals and he is really good at pushing others to follow through with their responsibility,” she said.
Trebino noted that when duty calls, Arredondo does his part to lead by example in uniting all ethnicities on campus.
“Even though we are a Latino-interest fraternity, he takes the lead in trying to work other ethnic groups by sponsoring activities for the community and participating during Black World Month and Martin Luther King Day,” Trebino said. “During the Christmas season, we even had a food and clothing drive to benefit Hispanic and other women who are disadvantaged and in need of assistance.”
Joseph Calmer, former secretary of the fraternity and senior in journalism agrees.
“He’s a really good leader. He’s turned Alpha Psi Lambda around,” Calmer said. “People are actually participating now, whereas before they kind of slept when it came to volunteer activities. Now it’s totally different. He motivates everyone to get involved.”
Arredondo has taken the lead in community service, which is not limited to Hispanics in Columbus. In fact, the fraternity has also worked with nonprofit organizations to promote a clothing drive as relief for the hundreds in El Salvador who were struck by tragic earthquakes this year.
Arredondo said regardless of the organization being a Latino oriented co-ed fraternity, Alpha Psi Lambda has welcomed people from various cultures from Latin America to the Caribbean nations as well as Europe, Asia, and the U.S. because it revolves around the family theme.
The group’s official Web site corresponds with that idea and states: “We have always and will always welcome to our fraternity people from a broad spectrum of cultures. Our strength lies in our ability to focus on our culture without falling prey to a racist myopia.”
