The new Brazilian Club on campus is beginning to heat up. The club was formed this semester and began with a handful of people, and membership is already near 30.
President Bianca Macena, graduate student in linguistics, said she’s glad the club is finally up and running.
“I’ve always had this in mind,” she said. “The purpose of the club is to promote Brazilian culture through food, music and discussion of contemporary issues.”
Although it is an open club, it is primarily for Portuguese speakers.
“There’s no point to having a Brazilian Club and speaking English,” said Macena.
The Portuguese language program has been quickly expanding at the U during the last few years under Macena’s leadership.
She arrived at the U in the Fall Semester of 2004 to teach Portuguese. There were only a few Portuguese classes in each of the 2004 semesters, and those primarily targeted returned LDS missionaries, Macena said.
This semester, there are a total of eight classes being taught, some for first-, second- and third-year speakers.
“We have a good number of students in Portuguese,” Macena said.
Vice President Eduardo da Silva, graduate student in economics, is equally thrilled that the Portuguese language and the Brazilian culture are getting a boost on campus.
“The club is not to separate us, it’s not segregation. We want to show our culture,” he said.
Although the club is still in its infancy, leaders already have plans for events during the next school year.
“We’ve scheduled Brazilian Week in October, a lecture in November, Capoeira Day in February, and we’ll be participating in Volunteer Week next March,” da Silva said.
Both Macena and da Silva said that the club will cover culture and issues that occur in every region of Brazil, rather than just focusing on one or two specific areas.
“Brazil is not just the Amazon,” da Silva joked.
Because the club is so new, membership is low, but da Silva hopes that club membership will exceed 100 in the near future.
“Pretty much, you have to speak Portuguese to join, but there’s not really a requirement,” da Silva said “I think that anyone who is involved with Portuguese should try to get involved.”