A St. Thomas chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals For America was approved as an official club at the Oct. 29 Undergraduate Student Government general council meeting.
ALPFA is a national organization with chapters at universities across the country, including the University of Minnesota. St. Thomas junior and ALPFA club president Adrian Nambo first interacted with ALPFA members at a networking event at the University of Minnesota in the spring.
“It was a really beautiful thing because I guess I’d never been into a networking event where it was all Hispanic individuals pursuing higher excellence, higher education, and supporting each other in their career endeavors that they have, and that’s something that I wanted to bring into the University of St. Thomas,” Nambo said.
After attending another ALPFA event in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nambo decided to start a chapter at St. Thomas.
The club’s mission is to empower Latino students through professional development and community engagement.
As a first-generation college student, Nambo said he wants to see more “collaboration of Latino students in the business acumen.”
“We don’t talk about our first-generation experiences, which a lot of Latino students are navigating throughout their college career and their recruiting career, as well,” Nambo said.
ALPFA leaders hope to increase student involvement by hosting events like career fairs and collaborating with other clubs, such as Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Achievement, commonly called HOLA.
Nambo said that one of the club’s goals is also to increase St. Thomas’ footprint nationally, in alignment with the university’s 2030 strategic plan.
ALPFA plans to work closely with the Dougherty Family College to recruit more members.
Nambo said that one of ALPFA’s e-board members, who transferred from DFC, reported experiencing a lack of community there despite most of the students being people of color. Nambo hopes to “foster a community” through collaboration between DFC and ALPFA.
“It’s very nerve-wracking when you don’t know how to navigate (recruiting) processes, and that’s something I want to be able to offer and overall just promote collaboration within each other,” Nambo said.
Ilah Daood can be reached at daoo3174@stthomas.edu.
Witney Geddis can be reached at gedd4212@stthomas.edu.
