Last spring, Caribbean students at the University of Wisconsin set out to create the university’s first Caribbean Student Association after attending the African Student Association’s Multicultural Fall Ball, an event where students wear cultural attire and gather for music and live performances.

CSA service chair Victoria Breton said she noticed students wearing traditional Caribbean attire at the event, despite the region not having a specific organization on campus to draw them together.

CSA social chair Mara Allen said there is a noticeable Caribbean presence on campus, but students are spread out between existing organizations that align with their identities. This gap in cultural organizations on campus inspired the group to fill out the paperwork to solidify CSA as a Registered Student Organization.

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“It was something that was important to me because I just noticed that there is a Caribbean presence on campus, but everybody is so spread out between Latine Student Union and the Black Student Union, even African Student Association,” Allen said.

When CSA was tabling at the Kohl Center during the RSO fair this fall, Breton said Caribbean students passing by were glad to find an organization that aligned with their identities.

“When Caribbean students came up to us they were like, ‘we’ve been looking for you,’ and just to hear something like that, it just shows this is a need on campus,” Breton said.

CSA aims to create a safe space for Caribbean students to get to know each other and share their diverse cultures, Allen said. The Caribbean region consists of 13 sovereign nations and numerous territories each with differing languages, customs, cuisine and religions, according to World Atlas.

Now registered with the UW Multicultural Student Center, CSA can begin booking rooms inside the Red Gym to host club meetings and events, Breton said.

“I would say the biggest goal is really just community building because like I’ve said, there are Caribbeans here on campus, we’ve just been so spread out,” Allen said. “We don’t all know about each other. So that’s the principal goal, but also just sharing our culture.”

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Allen said the first step when creating a RSO is finding a faculty advisor. CSA decided on UW professor of dance and First Wave scholarship artistic director Chris Walker. Walker is also The Public Theatre in New York City #BARS Workshop co-artistic director, National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica senior choreographer and New Waves Dance and Performance Institute in Trinidad and Tobago program director.

Breton said her and the rest of the soon-to-be CSA executive board quickly formed the long-term goal of creating events like the Fall Ball that bring students together and continue on for years, or even decades, after their conception.

CSA’s first event will be a Sip and Paint Oct. 5 from 6-8 p.m. in the UW Center for Cultural Enrichment, where students will gather to paint and drink traditional Caribbean drinks, according to the organization’s Instagram page.

“We’re really excited for that because it just gives you an opportunity to do something you love, relax, unwind, while also saying ‘okay, where’s this drink from?’” Breton said.

In the future, CSA hopes to collaborate with the ASA and UW’s Latin-based dance team Fuego Dance Crew, Allen said.

So far this semester, the Vietnamese International Student Association and Albanian American Student Organization have also begun organizing on campus.

Allen said this recent trend helps to create a sense of community on campus for students as they get to know people with similar identities.

“​​I think it’s so beautiful because a lot of times we don’t recognize what’s around us,” Allen said. “So now that there are these organizations popping up, it’s really a great way for people to share their culture and just learn about one another which is a really great way to create unity on the campus, especially as organizations collaborate with one another or just host public events.”

Breton said new events and other important information will be posted on the group’s Instagram page, and students interested in joining are invited to join CSA’s GroupMe located in the bio of their account.