For a few hours each week, they don't feel so much like a number.
Freshman Cindy Barrera doesn't.
Neither did Cameya Ramirez, or her father before her.
For 35 years, the Mexican American Student Association has made the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus of more than 20,000 students feel a little smaller.
As a freshman in 1998, Ramirez didn't go far for college. Her father worked at UNL, and she had lived in Lincoln her whole life.
A home-cooked meal was a short drive away. Her dad's soothing voice was even closer.
But for Omaha-native Barrera, stuck on campus without a car for her freshman year, home feels farther away.
Her parents didn't go to college, so she can't ask them about letters of recommendation, r©sum©s or scholarship applications.
``MASA helps students transition to college who might otherwise feel lost,'' said Ramirez, who graduated from UNL in 2002 with a major in sociology and Chicano studies.
She now works as the organization's adviser and a program coordinator for the Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services (OASIS). The bubbly dark-haired woman with the warm hugs wants to add one more face to UNL's campus to remind Hispanic students of home.
``You can meet people with the same values, beliefs and culture that also have many of the same questions you have,'' she said. ``It gives you a feeling of family when your family might not be just a car ride away.''
Along with OASIS, located in the Culture Center, MASA fosters a social and academic network for Hispanic students.
Each week, about 20 students gather in the Culture Center basement for meetings, sharing stories, laughter and concerns.
Like Ramirez several years earlier, they have few childhood friends now in college. Many of those who did decide to go often dropped out their first year.
``They didn't understand that I had to go to class, that I have to work,'' Ramirez said.
Her friends in MASA, though, knew the challenges of college life all too well.
Barrera is the only Hispanic in many of her classes, but she doesn't like to admit she sometimes feels isolated.
Unlike Omaha and many other cities, Lincoln doesn't have a specific area predominately populated by Hispanics. Students unfamiliar to the city struggle to find a community catered to their cultural background, Ramirez said.
Barrera didn't know about the Hispanic Community Center, located at 2300 O St., when she came to campus. The center, which hosts several MASA events, serves as one of the city's few hubs for Hispanic residents.
Ramirez also tries to invite students over for home-cooked dinners when she can. Anything to help students feel at home could keep them in school - a reality many OASIS staff members battle each semester.
Through MASA, students build leadership skills they can use to encourage their classmates and younger siblings to also attend college, Ramirez said. They travel to national conferences and host their own leadership workshops in the fall for city youth.
Students also mentor at area grade schools, teaching Hispanic children about educational opportunities available after high school - filling the gap sometimes left by parents without college degrees.
And as Lincoln's Hispanic population continues to increase, more high schools have formed student groups to encourage Hispanic youth to attend college, said Bill Waters, an OASIS program coordinator.
His wife, a teacher at Lincoln North Star High School, started a Hispanic student organization this year for the school's fastest-growing minority group.
``When you come to school, whether high school or college, if you don't feel like you belong, you aren't going to stay long,'' Waters said. ``Being involved in cultural organizations gives many students a step up because they find that sense of belonging faster than those who don't join groups.''
It worked for Ramirez.
Barrera hopes it works for her, too. She wants to go to medical school after college.
``Hispanic students don't have to see their dreams as just dreams,'' Ramirez said. ``When they can find others who have made their dreams a reality or share the same dreams, they can have a strength to succeed together.''
