FASA’s “Havana Nights” Draws Students from around NJ

By ROYAL THOMAS II

Ramapo College students gathered March 3 at Trustees Pavilion for a night of food, fun, and dancing.

The event, “Havana Nights”, was a semi-formal gathering sponsored by the Filipino American Student Association (FASA).  FASA is a club focused on outreach to students of Filipino descent, as well as promoting Filipino-American culture throughout Ramapo College.  Each spring, the club organizes a semi-formal in order for students to relax and unwind in the midst of an often stressful semester. This year, the event theme was Cuba.

“It’s just a good time,” said Ramapo College sophomore Justin Leonardo.  Leonardo is a second-year FASA executive board member, and first-year president of the club.  “We do a lot of work and have our regular general body meetings every week, but we never get a chance to unwind and do a fun event.  So this is like our biggest time to really bond as a club.”

Bonding is exactly what occurred at “Havana Nights.” Attendees wore semi-formal attire with special emphasis on floral patterns and spring colors to go with the theme.  The guests were also able to enter the event as either singles or as a couple.  Upon entry, they spent the night dancing, conversing, and taking pictures to commemorate the evening.

One of the best ways to spread culture is through food.  Filipinos also have a longstanding interwoven history in Cuba, thus the food for the celebration was chosen accordingly.  The serving line was complete with white rice, empanadas, fried plantains, lumpia and more.

Once guests were finished with their plates they made their way over to the dance floor the in-house DJ played a melody of current hits and kept the event going until the 11 o’clock curfew.

“The DJ had some great selections” said Rutgers student Miles Ben-Egypt on the night. “The atmosphere of the event was really good, I had fun.”

Although Ben-Egypt is not a student of Ramapo College, he was well aware of FASA’s annual semi-formal and was happy to be in attendance.

“I came so I could see some old friends, it was good time,” Ben-Egypt said.

Ben-Egypt was among a  handful of off campus guests.  Most colleges in New Jersey have their own Filipino organization, like that of Ramapo, so FASA’s semi-formal acts as social gathering for these neighboring clubs.

“We are a club that is based at Ramapo, but we’re in a district that’s involved with Filipino clubs at 28 other schools in North Jersey and New York.  So we invite a lot of people,” said Leonardo.

Leonardo added that despite the event doubling as a fundraiser, the goal overall is for everyone to have a good time.  “The only way to really measure the success would be based on like, how much fun the guests have at the end of the night,” he said. “We usually get a lot of reviews and a lot of feedback from other schools or like just our own general body.  Knowing that they had a good time is very satisfying.”