Hey there Latineers!
The time of year has come round again to gather at Penn State for an epic weekend of fun, camaraderie, and competition. The weather has turned from bleak grey skies and chilly gusts, to the blue sun-filled warmth of the oncoming summer. You’ve just finished your delicious lunches, and began the long trek down towards the track to demonstrate your mightiness as you throw pool noodles across the land.
Latin convention comprises some of the best twelve days of my life, and as I sit here with the bittersweet pain of nostalgia, I’ve been thinking about what a wonderful time you all have given me and just what made it so incredible.
And so here are some tips I can give you to make your Latin Convention experience the best it can possible be:
- Talk to everybody
- This is the one time of the year in which you are totally surrounded by the people that “get” you. The incredible, brilliant people all around you are your people. Don’t waste the opportunity to build up your tribe by spending the entire weekend with the people you already know and are comfortable with. GO! Meet everyone!
- Keep it lighthearted
- Latin Convention is a place in my memories in which resides absolutely no negativity. It’s been designed as a place of happiness, and so go around everywhere with the mindset of making this weekend an adventure. Choose to make it the greatest time, and it will become the greatest time.
- Explore everything
- There’re so so many things going on this weekend. Try to go see them all! Don’t sit around in your dorm chillaxing it up. You can do that on the bus tomorrow. Go see the art projects. Go play a pickup volleyball game. Watch Certamen. It’s all amazing.
In summation, be present. You are surrounded by your people, you have the mindset of adventure, and you are presented with the situations in which you will forge some of the greatest memories of your life. Know that while this is most definitely one of the best times of your life, if you continue to do life as well as you are, you’ll never peak. It will be “one of the greatest.” You are all wonderful, brilliant, happy, ambitious, amazing individuals and I am SO honored to have been a part of your lives. May #PAJCL2015 be a convention of conventions!
And last, but not least … 153. 153 is the number that we left our G-ball extravaganza at. Beat it.