Chicano Bowl highlights diversity within the student population

York’s most hidden cultural gem is Chicano Bowl. A club where the members gather and study relentlessly for a competition held in late April. The members educate themselves on Chicano history and learn more about their culture as American citizens who come from Latin descent. They begin to open the eyes of their peers about the importance of representation beyond American history.

There is more to the hard work the Chicano Bowl members put into their competition.

“Culture. Chicano Bowl to me is all about culture,” Elizabeth Reyes, club sponsor, said. “It’s something that we don’t get enough of in schools, that minorities don’t get a lot of in schools.” 

An abundance of the York student body is not aware of Chicano Bowl and the importance it holds for representing a large part of our community. Students like senior Caleb Granados participate to create closer bearings with his culture and those who aren’t afraid of a healthy competition.

“I would describe [Chicano Bowl] as empowering,” Granados said. “I guess inspiring in a way, to see all of us group up together, and to feel that we can unite as one for this club at school.”

Along with the shortage of representation in large schools like York, publicity for clubs such as Chicano bowl is also lacking, failing to educate the rest of the student body about opportunities such as this one. Despite this being Reyes’s first year sponsoring Chicano Bowl, she has a clear motive as to why she represents this club.

“Even in our history books, we learn something very one sided,” Reyes said. “So this allows students to see a different perspective, their perspective, their background, and how they’re represented in the US.” 

Chicano Bowl is an academic club, but the improvement of representation beyond the Chicano community is something that should be celebrated. Representation is the true gold medal. 

“We talked about Wakanda forever, and how Namor came out and that was a big deal for us, because it’s Mayan descent and it’s just a lot for our culture,” Reyes said. “So we talked about that for a whole meeting. I thought that was awesome.” 

This club has the ability to give so much to it’s students and sponsors. Reyes hopes to give back to her students, what they have given her.

“I feel more empowered, and they’ve given me that. I hope that they feel the same, that it’s reciprocated. I think they’ve given me more than I’ve given them,” Reyes said.