Student org to celebrate event virtually
Paulina Longoria | THE RIDER
UTRGV students have a chance to win VBucks or a Nintendo Switch during the Fiestas Patrias virtual celebration today and Tuesday, hosted by the Campus Activities Board.
To increase their chances to win, students are encouraged to participate in as many games as possible. Every time students participate in an event, their name will be placed in the drawing for the Nintendo Switch raffle.
Fiestas Patrias is part of the university’s observance of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Rider File Photo
From 6 to 8 p.m. today, students will be placed in groups of five in breakout rooms on Zoom to play “100 Vaqueros Dijeron.” The winners will receive $20 in VBucks.
“100 Vaqueros Dijeron” resembles a Mexican game show called “100 Mexicanos Dijeron,” produced by Las Estrellas channel. The game is similar to “Family Feud,” where teams of five players respond to questions from a host.
Alejandra Santos, a computer science senior and CAB’s cultural committee chair, said the questions for the game will be about UTRGV and Hispanic heritage and culture.
CAB posted questions on its Instagram account to collect students’ answers for the contest.
From 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, the organization will host a game of lotería, and grito and costume contests.
Students must register via VLink for each day of Fiestas Patrias. After registering, students will be sent individual lotería cards through email. The winners of the game will receive $20 in VBucks.
For the grito contest, students must email a video of their best grito to cab@utrgv.edu by 5 p.m. today.
Santos said CAB will compile all submitted videos.
To enter the costume contest, students must wear their outfit during the event on Tuesday.
“For the costume contest, students sometimes dress up like Frida Kahlo … Mexican, very colorful, very pretty,” Santos said. “Any Mexican, Hispanic character that they like, or they can always dress up in the traditional red, white, green. … Whatever they feel resembles mostly the Hispanic culture is good.”
Winners of both contests will be determined by a raffle and receive CAB swag.
She said the grito and costume contests are held annually, but “100 Vaqueros Dijeron” is a new activity that started with the virtual events.
“It has never been programmed before by us, so it’s gonna be very exciting to see how it is,” Santos said.
Daniela Ramirez, a bilingual education senior and CAB’s vice president of membership, told The Rider this year’s Fiestas Patrias is different than previous.
“We are doing virtual events,” Ramirez said. “Instead of bringing back the mariachi as we used to and having the jalapeño-eating contest, the taco-eating contest, there’s gonna be other things involved because, of course, it’s virtual. We have to find accommodations for students.”
Asked what students can expect, Santos replied, “Something that we always like to promote is diversity. We want to celebrate the culture. [Fiestas Patrias is] a really big event that makes all of us feel really united considering that, like, UTRGV … we are on the border. Most of the population that we have here are Hispanic students. It’s always nice to feel a closer [connection] and even though it’s virtual this year, we still wanted to do that.”
Rider File Photo
