On Oct. 4, Shippensburg University’s Latino Student Organization (LSO) hosted its first Latino Explosion of the semester, featuring a memorial for Diane Jefferson, the late founder and director of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA), who passed away last summer. 

The event’s theme, “La Casita,” which means “the little house” in Spanish, symbolized the many cultures, communities and traditions that create a sense of belonging and a taste of home. 

Students and family members gathered in the CUB MPR to watch professional dancers with a live band while eating quesadillas, empanadas, pulled pork, chicken thighs, corn cake and horchata, a traditional sweet rice drink. 

“In la casita, there are always those people you look up to, people who are there to guide and lead you. Unfortunately for us, we lost that person this past summer,” said LSO President Marlon Aristy, who dedicated the evening to Jefferson, known to many as “Miss Di.”

“She was a second mother. She cared about us and where we were going. She was an inspiration. She saw what we couldn’t see in ourselves all the time,” Aristy said.

Jefferson was honored with an ofrenda, a traditional altar decorated with photos of her surrounded by friends and family, to remind students that she is “always here with us in presence and in spirit,” Aristy said. He emphasized that the event was not only a tribute to her memory but also a celebration of the lives she touched for over 30 years as director of MSA.

“She was the one that kept us together,” said LSO Vice President Cassidy Vangas, who added that student engagement has “literally tripled” this semester. 

Witnessing all the growth Jefferson sparked and the many students who came to celebrate her that night was bittersweet but showed that her legacy and spirit lives on and still keeps the SU community together.

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