For the Latinx Student Leader Council, a new council consisting of the student leaders of Latinx student organizations at Iowa State, the members all had one goal: to let undocumented students know that they are welcome at Iowa State.

The DACA 5k will be on Saturday at 8 am. This is the first year the council is having the event and all the funds from the event will go towards a scholarship. Even with a nasty forecast for Saturday in Central Iowa, the even would still be outdoors.

Vanessa Espinoza, a graduate student in the school of education and one of the members of the council, said that DACA recipients didn’t have a lot of opportunities for themselves at Iowa State.

“Iowa State really doesn’t have a lot of support for them [DACA recipients],” Espinoza said.

For DACA recipients, affordability is a difficulty for many to attend a higher education institution. Under DACA, recipients are not awarded any federal financial aid.

“We felt there were a need for students to receive scholarships,” Espinoza said.

The council established the DACA Scholarship Award in hopes of assisting DACA recipients trying to navigate residency issues, according to the scholarship’s page on the Iowa State’s financial aid website.

The deadline for the scholarship was March 9 and according to Espinoza and Jessica Mena Flores there were only six individuals who applied to the scholarship.

Beginning in the fall, the council wanted to put together an event to help fund their new scholarship and it was then the 5k was introduced.

The council originally planned to have the 5k during the fall but decided to have it in spring for more time for planning, finding partnerships for the event and advertising for the event.

For one of the organizer Aylin Raymundo, sophomore in psychology and volunteer chair for the event, the biggest concern for her is part of the route by the College of Design being under construction and she said that that the volunteers will have to make sure to guide participants that are unfamiliar with the route with the construction added to it.

Organizers of the event have established the event to be exclusive to all by allowing participants to either run, walk or roll.

“We want to be inclusive to those that are in wheelchairs and to participate,” Mena Flores said.

Up until the time of the race the community is able to make donations and register for the event.

About 15 individuals are helping coordinate Saturday’s event and the t-shirts for the event are created by a local Latinx business.

Raymundo said that the deadline to order the t-shirt for the event was March 9, but she said that she didn’t expect many people still wanting to purchase t-shirts after the deadline.

Espinoza and Mena Flores said that they are over 200 people registered for the event. The participants of the event consist of student, faculty and staff and Ames community members.

“We have faculty sponsoring students and immigration advocates within the state will be attending [the event],” Mena Flores said.

Espinoza said that the council has hopes to make the 5k an annual event and hopes to expand it within the university and create larger events.

“We’re branching off other ideas,” Mena Flores said. “We really want to support the students.”

Espinoza said that within the Latinx culture, individuals take care of one another, she also said that Iowa State should be able to do events and provide more support for DACA recipients.

“This is a call to action to the university, we want to challenge them to do better,” Espinoza said. “We want people to know undocumented folks are human, no human is illegal.”

Espinoza said that departments across the university should not defer to the Multicultural Student Affairs when discussing DACA and they should be more aware of their students and their needs.

“[You] have to be very careful about the information you give them it could impact their entire lives,” Espinoza said. “Faculty might know how to facilitate, students should feel comfortable with everyone.”

Espinoza said that with Iowa State being a predominantly white institution, it’s important that those within an underrepresented community have a voice.

Speaking of the statue of an immigrant with a child on it’s back right in front of Mackay Hall on central campus, Espinoza said while that statue is the only thing on campus as a source of representation, she said that herself and other Latinx students feel empowered having that statue on campus.

Espinoza spoke of the difficulties her and other Latinx students identifying themselves because of lack of representation at the university. Espinoza praised the Office of Admissions for having two staff members that identify of Latinx.

“I appreciate we have representation,” Espinoza said. “It means a lot to apply here and have those options.”

Both Mena Flores and Espinoza said that by having the council, they have a feeling of validation and believe their work within the council can make a difference.

For Saturday’s event, the symbol chosen was butterflies.

“Butterflies means migrate,” Espinoza said. “Migration is beautiful.”