The Mexican Students’ Association (MESA) is one of UR’s newest clubs, officially established in the fall of 2024. The group, which had been operating unofficially since 2022, aims to create a safe space to appreciate, celebrate, and raise awareness about Mexican culture.
The club hosts weekly meetings ranging from casual board game nights and movie showings, to larger-scale Mexican Independence Day and Day of the Dead celebrations, to more serious events, such as discussions on current events. Though most of their members are Mexican or have some Latin American heritage, all of their events are open to all students.
“A lot of us are Mexican students, and we want to feel this connection to other people that also identify the same as us,” said sophomore and Business Manager Xochilt Villa. “[But] we also want to connect with people that are interested in Mexican culture. Even though we’re [called] the Mexican Students’ Association, we’re not exclusive – anyone who’s interested or wants to join, we are open to them.”
Senior Ame Martinez, one of the club’s founders and current senior advisor, said that the club’s culture of openness is what makes the club special.
“It’s great to have a perspective from people who aren’t Mexican but might have other Latin American heritage, or people who truly just want to learn or have a connection with Mexico for some other reason,” Martinez said. “There’s no requirement that you have to meet, and we hope that everyone knows that and feels that.”
Villa, who joined MESA last fall and immediately felt a “deep connection to the club,” said that members aim to welcome others as they had once been welcomed.
“We try to be as open as possible. Any new members who [come], we try to go up to them, to speak to them, to get to know them. We try to make the space comfortable enough so they can feel free or relaxed,” she said.
The club’s welcoming atmosphere is reflected in the name of the group, MESA, which is not just an abbreviation, but also the Spanish word for “table.”
“In Mexican culture, the time that you sit around a table and spend with the people who you love is really important. It’s connecting time.” Martinez said. “So that kind of stemmed the origin of the name … we all sit around the table, and we all share this space … and connect with each other.”
Martinez, who is from Mexico City, first came up with the idea for an organization solely about Mexican culture with fellow senior Janelly Andrade-Gonzales in 2022. Martinez decided to run the club unofficially, feeling that it was too difficult to propose a new student group as a first-year, daunted by the lengthy application process.
“I created an unofficial e-board,” she said. “We started our Instagram as an unofficial org. We basically did the things that we could do as an unofficial org and started holding meetings unofficially.”
After running things this way for over a year, Martinez reconnected with Andrade-Gonzales, who encouraged her to take the next steps to make the group official. The two of them began designing an official framework for MESA, including completing the significant paperwork in order to propose a new group to Wilson Commons Student Associations.
The group gained approval midway through the Fall 2024 semester, and throughout last year, Martinez and Andrade-Gonzales tabled at the Activities Fair, held e-board elections, and were finally able to officially reserve on-campus spaces for the club to meet. The club has also been able to receive funding for programming. Martinez said it feels “so incredible” for the club to be officially recognized.
“I’m so grateful that we did it because it’s totally different [to be officially recognized]. It’s amazing to be able to hold spaces, to be able to promote our events on campus,” she said.
Martinez said that though the MESA team is “still getting the feel of everything” as a new club, their official recognition has allowed for the club to change and grow.
“It’s already so different from what it was when I first started running it in sophomore year.” Martinez said. “I’m sure that it’ll be very different in a couple years and different in a couple years after that. My hope is that MESA can keep evolving so that it can keep staying around and can keep being what it is for me, which is a home on campus. Since MESA has been a thing, I feel like I have a place where I belong.”
