Rain pauses, community blooms at UCLA’s ‘Latinx Success Center Welcome’

After a morning of steady rain, the clouds parted just in time for UCLA’s “2025 Latinx Success Center Welcome,” revealing pockets of blue sky over Wilson Plaza. Music pulsed across the square, and the aroma of orange marigolds, flautas, pupusas and paletas signaled that the year’s most spirited community gathering was underway. The celebration carried the tagline “Rooted together – our community, our future.”

Every fall quarter, units across UCLA come together for the beloved bienvenida (welcome) for new and continuing Bruins to connect with each other and with staff, faculty and alumni. The outdoor celebration, presented this year by the newly opened Latinx Success Center, is part homecoming, part information fair and part festival, designed to send affirming messages to all students and their families, increase awareness of campus-wide resources and opportunities, uplift student success and honor National Hispanic Heritage Month.

The party always gravitates toward the dance floor of DJ Olea, a UCLA alumnus who has spun at the last several Latinx Welcomes. Between the beats this year, attendees enjoyed a live dance performance by the Afro-Latinx Connection de UCLA, a student-run organization that bridges the gap between African diaspora and Latino communities.

Nearby, Grupo Folklórico de UCLA student leaders warmly reached out to newcomers, encouraging them to join their dance practices, sharing that the group exists to help students find friendship and a sense of home within such a large university.

That theme — home, and what it means to find one — carried through the day’s program. Arlene Cano Matute, executive director of the Latinx Success Center, introduced the center — a new campus hub that offers advising and educational services, as well as leadership and mentorship programs — as a place “for you, by you,” where students can grow academically and personally.

“I thank all of the ancestors who are shining their light on us today — a pesar de la lluvia, right? We weren’t sure what the rain was bringing, but it brought you here,” she said.

Cano Matute shared that her 9-year-old twins helped her write her speech. When asked what “home” meant, they told her it’s “where people make space for you, where your heart is honored.” She said those words capture the spirit of the center — “a home away from home that supports your personal, professional and academic success.”

Read the rest of the article in the UCLA Newsroom.