International students have a new Latin American organization to work with their cultural needs.

John Alexander, assistant director for Latino and Latin American studies, said I.S.L.A., International Students from Latin America, is intended to help international students who may be feeling isolated because they are so far from home.

For this reason, it is important to have an organization like this, he said.

“Coming to the United States, [international students] long to have those common interactions that they would have studying in their counties,” he said.

The I.S.L.A. organization was the idea of two Mexican doctoral students from the department of geology, Guadalupe Velasquez-Oliman and Rosa Leal-Bautista.

Leal-Bautista agreed that students feel isolated when so far from home, and the program is intended to help students adapt to the new activities and culture they experience when studying abroad.

She said the organization is open to everybody, not just international students, and it offers many different fun activities for students.

Mauricio Monico, an OMIS graduate student, said the organization offers the chance to partake in parties, cultural food and movies.

He also said the organization offers a warm atmosphere.

“We’re trying to have a little bit of our customs, our food, our dance here,” he said.

For information, call the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies at 753-1531.