A student’s heritage plays a big part in everyday life. But what does it mean for those living “biculturally?”

Ana Ramos, junior in management information systems, feels that her Latino heritage is a prominent part of her life.

“I was born and raised in Mexico,” Ramos said. “I feel like my culture is still strong [in my life].”

Teresita Alvarez, graduate in educational leadership and policy studies and president of the Latino Graduate Student Association, was born in California and still feels strong ties to her Latino culture.

But Alvarez thinks of herself more as a Chicana than a Latina. She said it’s useful to use a unifying term such as Latino, though, because it allows other Latino students to connect with each other.

On the other hand, not every student fits into a specific category.

Alvarez feels a strong tie to her Latino culture but said that it’s not the only culture in her life.

“To be American is such a diversity of culture,” Alvarez said. “Latino is a part of that American culture.”

Alvarez said her cultural identity is grounding, while others may just be finding their own cultural identity.

“Some people don’t always identify as Latino depending on where they are [in life],” Alvarez said.

But this, among other issues, could have an impact on student enrollment in Latino organizations at Iowa State, Alvarez said.

“Some students want to get involved, but when they see how messy it is, they realize it’s a lot of work,” Alvarez said, “working against low funding and people that are stretched too thin.”

While cultural identity might be a factor in the lower enrollment, in the case of the Latino Graduate Student Association there may be an even bigger factor involved.

“I think if you asked most grad students they would be interested, but it’s hard to make it a priority,” Alvarez said. “Grad students that are involved are spread out really, really thin. They’re getting pulled in like 12 different directions. It becomes very overwhelming.”

However, for some, lower numbers are not always a bad thing. Andrew Olney, senior in mechanical engineering, talks about his experience in a multicultural environment.

As part of the Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity, Olney shares his house with about 20 brothers of the Omicron chapter. He said his fraternity’s lower numbers compared to other ISU fraternities give him an advantage.

“Because there is a longer process to pledge I’ve had the chance to truly get to know all of these people [in the house],” Olney said.

While Olney isn’t Latino himself, it is a Latino-based fraternity. Of the founding members, 16 of 18 were Latino and about half of ISU’s Sigma Lambda Beta chapter are Latino as well.

“We see it 24/7 so we don’t see it as unique,” Olney said about American culture. “People that don’t broaden their horizons don’t get the chance to see that.”

Olney said if he hadn’t joined Sigma Lambda Beta, he wouldn’t have learned as much about so many different cultures.