Louisville Establishes Los Cardenales

National Hispanic Heritage Month, which lasts from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, was created to celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans with ancestors of a Hispanic background.

The University of Louisville is now one of the few schools to have a student-athlete group designed for this population. Los Cardenales is a group of Hispanic/Latinx student-athletes who have come together to connect through their culture, language and family. Student-athletes come from all over the world to UofL to compete at the highest level, so being able to connect with those who are similar to them is important.

National Hispanic Heritage Week was first proclaimed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968. George H. W. Bush expanded upon this in 1989 during his Presidential Proclamation 6021, changing the concept to last an entire month. Since then, all presidents have marked a proclamation with Hispanic Heritage Month.

Mónica Negrón, Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Leadership & Development has worked alongside student-athletes at UofL with the goal of creating Los Cardenales. The ultimate goal of the group is to connect Hispanic student-athletes with each another, share each other's cultures and to connect with the Louisville Hispanic/Latinx community.

"This group is really close to my heart and having it finally come together is one of my proudest moments of my professional career," said Negrón. "As a Hispanic, a former UofL student-athlete, current Team Puerto Rico lacrosse member and current student-athlete development professional, I want to be able to use my various identities in order to empower and connect our Hispanic and Latinx student-athletes. Our culture as a whole is one of family and it strengthens by the bond we share. Many of our student-athletes come from all over the country and all over the world and creating a space for this group as a family inside of their larger Cardinal family is definitely exciting to see. To our current student-athletes and our incoming student-athletes, I want them to know that we are here to be a resource for them as we are to guide them for their lives after the collegiate careers are over."

Many student-athletes have been key voices in supporting this, including sophomore women's golfer Agustina Gomez who hails from Argentina, and Santiago Aguilera, a junior swimmer from Colombia.

"When I first had the thought of starting this organization, I had in mind representing every single Hispanic and Latino student athlete here at UofL. I want to create an environment where we can all feel at home and get things done for the culture, get our voices heard. I believe it is important to have this organization because it is not just a regular group or club, it is a team, like familia," Gomez said.

"Getting home sick can be hard, especially when you're a Latinx student that is thousands of miles away from home immersed into a different culture. The Los Cardenales group is a BRILLIANT idea for Latinx student athletes to fight homesickness and to meet other athletes that share a similar culture, heritage and language," Aguilera continued. "This group was made for Latinx student-athletes to find a family far from home, which is important so we are able to express our identity, to share our individualism and to show who we really are."

University of Louisville Athletics

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