On May 5, 1862, the French army was defeated by Mexico in the Battle of Pueblo. Today, this Mexican holiday is often commemorated by college students with tequila and Corona. This year some Ohio State students and their little siblings celebrated Cinco de Mayo alcohol-free, with a late-night event hosted by the Student Wellness Center.
“Bars tend to have cheap drink specials and it seems like there are considerably more house parties to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than there used to be,” said Jen Moning, Late Night program coordinator at the Student Wellness Center, in an e-mail.
“We just wanted to make sure that OSU students had the option of doing something else fun and exciting to celebrate Cinco de Mayo that wasn’t necessarily going out to bars or parties,” she said.
The event, which took place from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Recreation and Physical Activity Center plaza, featured several Mexican and Latin-American activities, including a Latin-American DJ, an authentic Mexican dancer, salsa dance performances, meringue lessons and piñata making.
“The dance lessons were very popular – I even tried a little bit myself and I had a great time,” Moning said.
Club Tropical, a Latin American dance club at OSU, performed and provided the dance lessons at the event. The club holds dance lessons that are open to the community Monday and Saturday nights at the Ohio Union.
“It is important to hold events like this for students because they help the OSU community become more culturally aware and involved,” said Dalinah Algarian, a senior in international studies and a member of Club Tropical.
Anna Ciesielski, a junior in microbiology, attended the event with her little brother, Robert Herroon, who was visiting during little siblings weekend.
Ciesielski said that her 10-year-old brother enjoys coming to visit her at school and it is good that the Student Wellness Center takes the time to organize events, like this one, for free.
Mexican-themed food such as chicken with rice, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole and non-alcoholic margaritas were also served at the event free of charge.
Other activities included caricatures, recreational soccer, cornhole, Dance Dance Revolution, raffle prizes and free massages.
“This is the Student Wellness Center’s first Cinco de Mayo event, but it is definitely something that we would consider doing again,” Moning said. “All in all, I think the event went really well.”
