The LSU West Indian Student Association provides students from West Indian backgrounds and nationalities with a place to socialize and embrace their cultures.

According to the WISALSU Instagram, its mission statement is “to bring together, expound on and celebrate West Indian heritage and culture” and create representation and promotion of Caribbean nations through unification, campus-wide engagement and education.

Business freshman Trinity Hunte-Angus and International Studies and Global Diplomacy freshman Sydney Whitfield created the organization because they wanted to showcase their origins along with other West Indian and Caribbean students’ backgrounds.

“Sydney and I were discussing the establishment of an organization on campus for Caribbean students and wondered if there was one already,” Hunte-Angus said. “Sydney did some research and discovered that there was an organization but was no longer active. So, we decided to create our own organization.”

Hunte-Angus said she and Whitfield started the West Indian Student Association to bring more awareness to the Caribbean population on campus.

“The main reason why Sydney and I started this association was that there is not a very high Caribbean population on campus,” Hunte-Angus said. “Us LSU students who are of West Indian and Caribbean descent miss being around people of our culture. Also, we want to bring those of us within the West Indian and Caribbean diaspora a safe space to converse on campus.”

Hunte-Angus believes the organization will provide students of West Indian heritage with a feeling of inclusivity, events, and a place to share ideas and create bonds with one another.

Whitfield said she finds comfort in discussing her culture with other Caribbean students, which prompted her to establish the association. She believes anyone interested in learning about West Indian culture can join the WISA.

“WISA was created after a series of conversations between several Caribbean students and myself who felt like we didn’t have a space to celebrate and discuss our cultures,” Whitfield said. “We had been complaining about how we missed our cultures’ food and couldn’t seem to find it anywhere within Baton Rouge.”

Whitfield expressed her desire to form a campus community for students with Caribbean heritage.

“My objective in starting this organization was to give people whose heritage is the Caribbean an opportunity to see more of their culture reflected on campus and people to meet who understand their experiences, their foods, their music and even the way they speak,” Whitfield said. 

Whitfield also said WISA plans to put on a variety of events to increase student outreach.

“The events WISA intends to promote are anything related to celebrating Caribbean culture; this could be a fete — a type of party — a J’ouvert or even Carnival,” Whitfield said. “We hope to bring attention to celebrations native to our islands and countries. We also hope this dismantles some of the negative stereotypes associated with our traditions and culture.”

Whitfield said WISA has allowed her to connect with students on campus.

“Creating WISA has given us the opportunity to connect with a multitude of students who were recently spread out across campus with no guidance as to where to start looking for people that were also from the West Indies,” Whitfield said. 

Psychology freshman Khi Addison is of Jamaican descent and expressed a desire to find a community that expresses their love for West Indian heritage.

“While WISA is very new, we’ve already begun learning about one another’s similarities and differences through our GroupMe chat,” Addison said. “We highly encourage students to discuss their experiences, whether it be in the kitchen, at a festival or within their own home. These types of moments are valuable to the culture we’re hoping to build as we expand the organization.”

Addison also believes that diversity is the crowning jewel of WISA.

“Personally, I believe the best part of WISA is the diversity,” Addison said. “Many students struggle to find a community they identify with or feel comfortable joining as an ‘outsider,’ so WISA creates a new space to consider.”