Sofia Fuentes ’26 found a large community of Puerto Rican students on campus like herself, but realized there was no campus association dedicated to their heritage. As a result, she took initiative herself to create the Puerto Rican Student Association (PRSA), an affinity group for students of Puerto Rican heritage.
Puerto Rico is one of the top U.S. states and territories with students who are admitted into St. Joe’s, according to an October 2023 Admitted Students Profile. Fuentes, president of PRSA, said the organization gives students like herself an opportunity to connect with one another.
“We can create our own safe space and our own home away from home, which is essentially our goal through this,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes reached out to other students about the idea over summer 2024, trying to find others interested in helping.
Marileana Pardo Miranda ’25, secretary of PRSA, said she was shocked an organization like this did not already exist.
“I can’t believe how much time it took for it to create a Puerto Rican Student Association,” Miranda said. “It’s absurd.”
To be approved by the assistant director of Student Leadership & Activities and become an official organization, PRSA needed to display student interest. So, they hosted a table at the activities fair Aug. 28, and gained over 68 signatures, according to Fuentes.
PRSA hosted their first meeting Monday, Sept. 9, at 5:30 p.m. in Mandeville Hall room 123.
Claudia Pérez ’26, vice president of PRSA, said the organization has many plans to bring together students of the same heritage.
“We have the idea to gather donations and send them back to Puerto very frequently,” Pérez said. “I’m very optimistic that it would be a huge success.”
Fuentes added how they hope to have fundraisers, start networking workshops and hold events to bring more Puerto Rican culture to the Hawk Hill campus on which they operate.
Adriana Calderin Ortega ’25, social media chair of PSRA, said Puerto Rican students have attended St. Joe’s for a long time, with her uncle graduating from the university years prior in 1993.
“This has been a thing that has been happening for such a long time,” Ortega said. “We want that space where people can feel heard and represented and share that for the whole campus.”
Edwin Torres ’25, treasurer of PRSA, has grown close to his Puerto Rican community on campus. He said the culture shock of traveling to the U.S. can be difficult to adjust to, and the friendships he formed have enhanced his college experience.
Torres said he hopes PRSA will foster these friendships and offer companionship to those struggling to adjust.
“I’m really looking forward for the Puerto Rican Student Association to, at least, at the bare minimum, make sure that all the Puerto Ricans are acquainted with each other,” Torres said. “So they feel they have someone to rely on or someone to talk to and make sure they have some sort of refuge here on campus.”
