CAB Hosts Annual Loteria Event

On October 4^th at 6 pm, approximately 200 students anxiously awaited, at the doors of the Student Center Ballroom at Texas A&M International University. The annual Loteria event was hosted, once again, by Campus Activities Board, also known as Cabbies, students waited with high hopes of getting a good seat and a winning Loteria card.

Loteria is a Mexican traditional bingo game in which players must match four characters that are called out by the announcer. When a player wins the game the most common expression used in Loteria is "Buena!" meaning "Good!" indicating that someone has won that round. Prizes were rewarded to the students, who won each round of Loteria. Prizes included several saucer chairs, 2-two pack tickets for the Enrique Iglesias concert, a Wii and Xbox game consoles, karaoke machines and an iPad 2. Naomi De La Torre, chair for the event, stated that "…this event is a way of getting students to participate and it also shows some of the Hispanic Heritage."

This year a new rule was implemented beforehand so that students showed more involvement on campus. In order for students to be part of the Loteria event, they had to attend one of seven university events that were announced around campus to receive their entrance voucher. These events included the soccer and basketball games, and artistic events such as the Cellopalooza and Steinway Series. Students would attend an event and receive a voucher from any one of the CAB members guaranteeing them a seat and card the night of Loteria.

Perla Garza, a Campus activities board member, said, "It took us about two and a half weeks to plan everything." In that time prizes were chosen, refreshments were bought, and the Student Center Ballroom was reserved for that day. Throughout the two weeks, Cabbies also made sure that there was someone at each event to give out Loteria vouchers and also to support the cause of each event. That night, Cabbies gathered to finalize the event by handing out refreshments, cards and making sure that the event went off without a hitch.

When asked about their expectations prior to the event Perla stated "I hoped it would go smooth" and surely enough it did. Naomi was satisfied with the outcome, she was glad to say they "had around 200 students…overall it was fun"

Campus Activities Board's next event will be Halloween fest hosted on Thursday, October 27^th 2011. Students are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes and join in on the games and various activities that CAB will have planned for them.

For more information about Campus Activities board please check out the following websites:

Campus Activities Board: www.tamiu.edu/studentaffairs/cab.shtml

Campus Activities Board Facebook: www.facebook.com/tamiucab1

Office of Student Affairs Facebook: www.facebook.com/txamiu.osa

(Jose Prado and Cesar Sanchez may each be reached respectively at joseprado@dusty.tamiu.edu  & cesar.sanchez@dusty.tamiu.edu)