Mi Gente

What is Mi Gente?

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Tony: Mi Gente is Carthage College's Hispanic/Latinx organization. We educate the campus and the Kenosha-Racine community about Hispanic and Latinx culture, history, and current events. We provide a safe space for Hispanic and Latinx students on campus, while also providing a welcoming community for everyone, regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds.

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What might students expect from Mi Gente general meetings?

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Alex: We always try to include an icebreaker to make sure that all students feel welcome and relaxed. We always try to include personal updates from each one of our members, as well as our administrators who help out our organization. We normally include some type of world event or community event that's currently impacting our communities.

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Who are your administrators? How do they support Mi Gente?

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Tony: One of our advisors, Dr. Stephanie Mitchell, is a professor in the history department. She is essentially everyone's Carthage mom. She's always there to give advice and love, especially for first years adjusting to life as a college student.

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Dr. Mitchell likes to help Mi Gente by finding volunteer opportunities in the community. During election seasons, she likes to do a lot of nonpartisan campaigning events in the community to educate people on how elections work and how to vote. She always encourages Mi Gente to attend any rally that would benefit our growth as leaders in the community, especially if it's for anything we believe in.

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How does Mi Gente build a community?

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​Alex: We try our best to play on familial values. We try our best to be good people: not only as motivators and influences, but as friends. We try our best to be there for students who need a support group or those who simply want to have a good time.

 

We try our best to advocate for our events on campus, such as our Hispanic Heritage Month events, Fiesta de la Primavera, sporting events, and game nights. We try our best to offer any type of experience students might not otherwise get here on campus.

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Tony, what are your favorite memories with Mi Gente?

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Tony: As a senior, I've been here quite a while. I have a lot of very fond memories with Mi Gente throughout the years. My first core memory with Mi Gente was when we took a trip down the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, where two of my friends was not Latino, so it was cool that me and my other friend were able to educate him on the culture, showing him why we are the way we are.

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​Another one of my favorite memories occurred last year. We did a dance class before Fiesta de la Primavera where we learned different styles of Latin music. We're planning on doing that again for Hispanic Heritage Month every week, but I had a lot of fun that night.

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What is Fiesta de la Primavera?

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​Tony: Yeah, so Fiesta de la Primavera, the literal translation is "spring party." Every spring, we host a big dance to celebrate the school year. Celebrate the culture. We'll invite some guest speakers. We'll invite some student performances. The last couple times we did it, we had a mercado (mini market) in the TWC before the event. We all made a playlist together. We all had these glow sticks, which turned out to be a hit.

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​Overall, we celebrate the school year, celebrate the culture, celebrate the people.

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Photo: 2024-2025 Mi Gente E-board at the 4th Annual Fiesta de la Primavera

 

Alex, what are your favorite memories with Mi Gente?

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My favorite memory was probably my freshman year at Fiesta. At the time, I wasn't around for many general meetings, so when I managed to attend Fiesta, I was greeted like an everyday member—a friend—by people I hadn't interacted with throughout the school year. Everyone was very welcoming. Everyone was very happy to see me. Ate a lot of good food. Danced a lot. It was a great time.

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Why is Mi Gente important? What does the organization contribute to Carthage?

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Alex: That familial sense. We don't just offer that to our Hispanic students, but anyone that looks to be a member. Mi Gente is very important because the club tackles a lot of very complex—and sometimes uncomfortable—issues that aren't mentioned in school.

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Mi Gente looks to not just offer good times; Mi Gente combats political issues that continue to affect Hispanic families. Mi Gente is not only informational, but holds itself as a platform for the advocacy of the community.

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​Tony: Chicago, Milwaukee, and Kenosha have very diverse Hispanic populations. I felt involved with my community back home, growing up in a predominantly Afro-Mexican neighborhood. I grew up to be very proud of who I am and where I come from. When I first came to Carthage, I did not see many Hispanics or Latinx students. The amount of students I saw that were Hispanic or Latinx—I could count on one hand.

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​At the time, I simply accepted. I was like, Well, I'm probably going to be only Hispanic student in class, and that's just gonna be my reality for the next couple years, right? But when I got to the org fair my freshman year, I saw the Mi Gente playing music. I remember leaving my friends and sprinting over the Mi Gente booth and dancing with them. They were impressed with how good I could dance, especially since we were dancing a style of music called cumbia wepa.

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It was really cool to connect with them through dance, even though we're from different parts of the region. That was my gateway.

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The president at the time, Grace Chapa, hyped me up at the first meeting, gassing up my dance moves. That made me feel really welcomed here. And I was able to see that there's a lot more Hispanic students here. Four years later, I can say that I've seen a lot more Hispanic students come to campus and join Mi Gente through the years. I'm proud to say that our organization has significantly quadrupled. I'm soon going to be part of that 20% of Latinx students with a bachelor's degree.

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Photo: Mi Gente at the 2024 Homecoming Parade

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​What are your upcoming events?

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Hispanic Heritage Month kicks off with a commemoration at the Kissing Rock on September 15. Another commemoration will be held on October 3.

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On September 19, Mi Gente partners with Poetry Underground. We are hosting an Open Mic from 6:30-9pm at the Stu Fireplace to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. We feature poetry, storytelling, performances, karaoke, and trivia about the culture. We are providing free Hispanic foods, such as pozole, churros, agua frescas, and horchata.

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On September 26, we are planning on hosting dance classes of various genres of Latin music. Various pop-ups will be stationed in collaboration with the EIC throughout Hispanic Heritage Month.

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​If someone was interested in joining Mi Gente, where would they find you?

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• General Meetings: Every Wednesday from 12-1pm in Lentz 411

• Email: migente@carthage.edu

• Instagram: @migente_cc