Move over Newhouse. There is another birthday on campus.

Celebrating 20 years of brotherhood, growth and success, members of the Kappa Chapter of the Latino-interest fraternity Phi Iota Alpha will be honored for their service in the Syracuse community at their sold-out anniversary luncheon and the Fiesta Latina celebration this weekend.

“Twenty years is not a long time if you think about it, but it is a pretty big deal,” said Hector Marmolejos, the president of the chapter. “We have crossed 100 brothers, and we are quality brothers.”

Fiesta Latina is an annual banquet held during National Hispanic Heritage Month to bring people together with cultural foods, dancing and performances. Phi Iota Alpha and the Office of Multicultural Affairs planned this year’s event collaboratively over the course of six months.

Marmolejos, a senior economics major, said the event will showcase two decades of accomplishment and dedication by the fraternity’s members in efforts to unify the Latino community on campus.

The fraternity works to provide students with scholarships and hosts a variety of cultural events and workshops throughout the year, Marmolejos added. These events include Sazon Phiota, during which the fraternity goes to each dining hall over the course of two weeks in the fall to expose students to Spanish food, music and dancing. The fraternity also hosts Language Barriers, a discussion forum for Latino students to voice their opinions on issues that pertain to the Latino community.

Earlier this week, the Kappa chapter launched #ProjectSUccess, a campaign designed to promote career-related events on campus and encourage community members to expose themselves to full-time job and internship opportunities. The chapter sponsored six students to get haircuts to help prepare for the career events.

“I think Latinos aren’t recognized for what we do. That is one of the reasons we started #ProjectSUccess, because we want to show Syracuse University that we are striving to be professional — we want a job,” Marmolejos said. “We are here for a reason. We are not just here to party. We came to college for a career.”

Andres Rivera, a former president and the current alumni relations chair of the fraternity, said community involvement is a main focus of the organization.

Rivera, a senior marketing major and the president of the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations, said the events will also highlight the close-knit brotherhood of the chapter, which is rooted in their support of Latino students.

“The Latino community on this campus is growing tremendously. More and more Latino students are coming and, for me, when I first got here, I felt so underrepresented,” Rivera said. “I definitely feel like it is important for us to celebrate our culture and our history. It is important because it makes the Latino students, and all students in general, feel welcome.”

The anniversary’s luncheon and celebration will not only celebrate the organization’s goals and achievements, but also bring together several generations of the chapter.

Roger Guzman, one of the more than 60 alumni returning to campus for Fiesta Latina, is a 2013 alumnus and former president and social chair of the Kappa chapter of Phi Iota Alpha. He hopes to establish a stronger relationship with the founders of the fraternity and reconnect with his brothers.

“I think we have provided even the students who are not necessarily interested in joining our organization as a brother or a member with being very content to be affiliated with us, knowing they have a place they can come to, and it’s a comfort zone,” Guzman said. “You don’t necessarily have to be a brother for me to treat you like my brother.”

In the Sept. 30 article, “Asian-American interest fraternity Lambda Phi Epsilon to form new chapter at Syracuse” the titles of Bryan Dosono and Hugh Yang were misstated. Dosono is an alumni adviser to the fraternity and Yang is an interested member. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

Published on October 2, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Alexa: adiaz02@syr.edu | @alexalucina