The WKU Spanish Club focuses on cultural understanding and educating its members and others through cultural activities. 

The Spanish club is open to any and all WKU students interested in the Spanish language and Hispanic culture. The club provides several social opportunities in which students can practice speaking Spanish, such as fiestas and cultural dance lessons. 

President of the Spanish Club and WKU student in the department of Modern Languages, Cody Smith, said it’s a great club and they encourage everyone to participate regardless of their level of Spanish. 

“We’ve had great attendance this semester. It’s my first year on the hill and my first year being president and I’ve loved leading the club this semester, it’s been a great experience,” Smith said.

Each meeting is held on Monday evenings, times, dates and descriptions of events are available on the Spanish Club Instagram.  The events range from tongue twisters, iconic idioms and a U.S border immigration simulation.  

Their most recent event held was a cooking collaboration between the Intercultural Engagement Center and the Spanish club. Students were able to cook and enjoy traditional Spain and Latin America food and drinks while engaging with each other. 

WKU’s Modern language and Spanish instructor and Spanish club advisor, Yertty VanderMolen said language is immersed with culture and the club is a place of comfort and engagement for students.

“Students are welcome to come into a comfortable environment and not have to worry about making mistakes or someone making fun of their Spanish speaking skills,” VanderMolen said.

According to VanderMolen, the Spanish Club is limited on resources and the Intercultural Student Engagement Center provided those resources for them to reach more students. 

“We’ve been in communication with Michael from ISEC about collaborations, he also is from hispanic origin and is a great resources to have,” VanderMolen said.

Michael Sostre, graduate assistant for the Intercultural Student Engagement Center, says ISEC was delighted to partner with the WKU Spanish Club to host such a wonderful cooking event.

“Every participant was fully engaged, and I was impressed by the quality of food the student prepared,” Sostre said.

Students prepared main and side dishes such as Arroz Con Pollo, Ensalada Rusa. These dishes were followed up by Dulce De Leche cookies. 

“Cody Smith and Professor VanderMolen did an excellent job ironing out the details and were a pleasure to work with,” Sostre said. “At ISEC, we love any time we can partner with other organizations to create multicultural experiences for our students, and this was a perfect example of that.” 

News reporter Genesis Malone can be reached at [email protected].