Class News

1964 Class Council meets with Yale students from La Casa Cultural

February 13, 2021

For the fifth time in as many years, the ’64 Class Council met with a Yale student panel. This year, we met with six students from La Casa Cultural, the Latino Cultural Center at Yale. The student panel was recruited by Assistant Dean Eileen Galvez, the Director of La Casa Cultural. As with the rest of the meeting, the panel discussion was done via Zoom. These panels are designed to provide the Council with direct, unfiltered knowledge of Yale student experiences in the present time. How are their experiences different from the experiences we had in the early 1960s?

This year, of course, the pandemic added an extra socialization factor that was not present in earlier years. These students told us that the support they received from La Casa was invaluable, and some of them also had strong connections with country-of-origin identity groups, including Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Many had good engagement with academic discipline groups, like STEM, and also with extracurricular groups, like theater and music.

More challenging to these students was their engagement with the broader Yale student body (again, COVID may be a factor here) and especially with Yale alumni. On the latter, we encouraged them to look at Cross Campus, the new network for connecting Yale alumni with Yale students, especially for mentoring. Many of these students were 1st Gen (first in their family to go to college) and/or from economically stressed families. Class barriers between them and other Yale students was a factor.

The students made a special appeal for financial support for the La Casa Cultural Center and other cultural centers at Yale. Classmates should consider giving directly to this Center as part of their Yale giving. Checks should be made payable to “Yale University” with La Casa Cultural in the memo, and mailed to:

Yale University
Office of Development
Contribution Processing
P.O. Box 2038
New Haven, CT 06521-2038

Alternatively, visit this link, enter your gift amount, and then in the box that says “Please specify what you would like to support” enter “La Casa Cultural.” Then fill out your contact and payment information in the remainder of the form.

While the experiences of these six Latino students differ from ours some 60 years ago, the quality of student talents and achievements are undiminished … perhaps even higher. Take a look at their backgrounds and you will see what I mean.

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Sonja Malek ’22 is a junior and lives in Davenport. She is originally from the suburbs of Chicago, IL. Sonja is majoring in Environmental Engineering with a certificate in Education Studies; her current interests are focused on green design and sustainable urban systems. She is the current president of the Yale chapter of Engineers Without Borders, chair of Despierta Boricua (the Puerto Rican Students' Association), and a staff member at La Casa Cultural Julia de Burgos.

Celia Cacho ’22 is a junior from The Bronx, NY, and she lives in Branford. Celia is majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. On campus, she is involved in multiple organizations including being President of Yale’s Steppin’ Out, co-founder of Central Americans for Empowerment, and an EMT for Yale Emergency Medical Services.

Brian Reyes ’21 is a senior from New York City. He lives in Berkeley and is studying History. In addition to identifying as Latino, he is a first-generation college student. Brian is also a member of the most recently selected class of Rhodes Scholars.

Christian Milian-Santiago ’21 is a senior who currently resides in Waterbury, CT. At Yale, he is a first-year counselor (FroCo) and Education Studies Scholar majoring in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Christian was born and raised in Puerto Rico before moving to the mainland United States in search of better resources for his brother who has an autism spectrum disorder.

Ale Campillo ’22 is originally from Los Angeles, California and is a rising senior in Jonathan Edwards College, pursuing a dual major in Theater Studies & Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. On campus, Ale is heavily involved with La Casa Cultural, the Yale Dramatic Association, The Office of LGBTQ Resources, and the a capella group Shades of Yale. Ale is currently on a gap year working for Yale, a local Connecticut museum, and pursuing an independent career in the music industry. 

Victoria Quintanilla ’21 is a senior and lives in Berkeley. She was born and raised on the Texas-Mexico border in San Juan, Texas. Victoria is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. She is majoring in History and East Asian Studies with a focus on transnational Latin American-Asian migration.