After years of being known for large social gatherings, the Pan American Association is seeking to re-establish the group’s cultural values and focus less on parties.
“We aren’t just about our parties,” said Tyler Heck, international and area studies senior. “We have our cultural events, getting to know new people and just having fun together.”
Heck said the parties are a great place to meet new friends but aren’t what PANAM, the largest international student organization on campus, stands for.
“We don’t do as good of a job [at our parties] as I would like to incorporate South American themes,” Heck said. “It’s more a party atmosphere where we get together to have fun.”
Diego Alvarez, management senior and president of PANAM, said they also host movie nights, bowling nights, ice-skating and other events, which are open to their members and anyone else wanting to attend.
“We can be a hub for people to come and meet and share so much stuff,” Alvarez said. “I feel good about that.”
Megan Powers, international and area studies senior, said an international friend from Pakistan got her involved with this organization her sophomore year.
“I was hooked,” Powers said. “It was so exciting to see people from all over the world in one room.”
Powers said she decided to change her major to international and area studies after being involved with PANAM.
“Personally, I feel like I owe a lot of my passion and knowledge of international issues to my friends from PANAM,” Powers said.
Alvarez said the parties they host throughout the year have brought them most of their popularity, but said he is hoping to bring the parties back with a more cultural aspect this year.
“We want to make it more diverse,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez, originally from Bolivia, said he was first introduced to the student association of PANAM about a year ago as he was visiting a friend who was an exchange student at OU.
As a result of PANAM, Alvarez said he transferred from George Mason University in Washington D.C. to OU to be involved in the association.
“[As president] I was amazed to see people who were prospects of the exchange program contact us this year with a desire to be a part of PANAM,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said he assumes the parties were started because the student club was originally so small and hoped their members would socialize.
“The chance to meet so many different people from so many different places really drew me,” Alvarez said.
Daniel Ferrufino, civil engineering second semester exchange student from Bolivia, said he was introduced to this association from a friend in Bolivia.
“It’s very complicated to be away from home,” Ferrufino said. “American culture is very different, but PANAM gives you the chance to feel like you are at home.”
PANAM is for everyone, not just international students, Ferrufino said.
“We are trying to encourage American students to be apart of our association,” Ferrufino said. “I really think we have many things to offer them.”
Ferrufino said Friday’s White Party, the first PANAM party of the year, had a turnout of about 600 people. He said they were expecting more American students to be in attendance.
“We really want to show our culture and our points of views with the American people,” Ferrufino said.
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kiki 2 years, 8 months ago
I wonder how many of those 600 that attended the party were actually students at the university of Oklahoma....
JJanowiak 2 years, 8 months ago
PANAM is just a stupid party organization, which reflects the priorities of a disturbingly large portion of the international student community here at OU.
claw09 2 years, 8 months ago
That's really rude! I'm not an international student, but I know many who are and seem to care more about school than anything. So what if they want to have good parties, no one should sit at home all day by themselves studying 24hrs. What about all the "Date Parties" the greek organizations don't stop talking about, there isn't a difference.