It’s great to be a Miami Hurricane

Dozens of University of Miami student volunteers came out early Saturday morning to invite underprivileged young children to the university community.

The Federación de Estudiates Cubanos started a series of campus-wide events known as “A Week of Cuban Culture” and it kicks it off with the second year of “Jose Martí Day of Service,” which occurred at the green next to the Richter library.

“My hope is that they leave this event with an eagerness to attend college and with smiles on their faces,” said Gaby Garcia, one of the organizers of the activity.

The event consisted of exposing underprivileged youth from Abriendo Puertas Community Center in Little Havana to the community in the University of Miami. In order to complement the theme of Cuban culture, students wore either a blue, white or red t-shirt, and competed in a color wars tournament, which divides participates into three teams based on their shirt color.

Each color-team took a UM song for inspiration. It was “We’ve got some canes over here whoosh whoosh” for the white team. “It’s great to be a Miami Hurricane” for the blue team. As for the red team, students took over “C-A-N-E-S Canes,” as they even learned the difficult dance moves that follow each letter in the song.

The field day consisted of eight different games: The three legged race, egg and spoon race, tug-o-war, caterpillar, bucket game, water balloon toss and a final competitive game of dodgeball.

“It feels great, it’s very exciting,” said Moises Saenz, a 6th grade student from the community center. “I’m happy my mom told me to stop the Playstation 2 and come here.”

Sunrise Peguero may be contacted at s.peguero@umiami.edu.