Over 28 student attended friendly speed dating event hosted by Latin American Student Organization (LASO) Thursday night from 6.p.m to 7p.m in hope to bring more people to their events.

Students gather in Martin Luther King Jr University Union Effingham room to enjoy friendly speed dating hosted by the LASO.

The organization promoted and addressed the educational, cultural and social aspects of Latino communities on all levels and is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about Latin American.

The event gave students a chance to meet others and bond over their interests.

The event was successful according to Dioselin Andrade, a senior health administration and treasurer of LASO.

“Good amount of people in attendance for our first event of the school year, getting to know each other asking each other questions, we have snacks, and the environment is so open and friendly for all students,” Andrades said.

The friendly speed dating was for students to meet one another and socialize in an open environment, along with giving them a chance to find common interest and bond.

Students enjoyed jumping from seat to seat in a timely manner to meet each other while also getting to know more about what LASO has to offer, including the leaders of LASO themselves.

While there was a 20-question prompt provided to help introduce each other, that did not stop students from getting to ask their own questions to one another and learn about interests.

Gabe Emerson, a junior environment biology, attended the event with the intention of meeting new people.

“I would go again, I had good interactions with other students, exchange social media and making friends in the process.”

After the event, students got to meet with the leader of LASO to ask questions and learn about how they could join the student run origination.

While the event was a success, there are still things that LASO wants to improve on for the future. By having an event like the friendly speed dating or bringing back some events from last year like the board games and snacks they hosted.

The event gave them more ideas and ways to continue having a successful school year.

Guiselle Padron, junior hospitality tourism management and president of LASO hopes to improve the organization this year with more events.

“Big or small we want to get the word out there, marketing and updates on social media and to the school calendar. We want anyone to show up and be able to learn to spread the word about LASO.”

Sia Deykoontz can be reached at 581-2812 or at smdeykootz@eiu.edu.