Student leader and entrepreneur finds home in the Penn State Latinx community

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Hailing from Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, Bunton-Waller Fellow Zairi Mercader has fulfilled her high school aspirations — becoming a Penn State student and president of the Puerto Rican Student Association (PRSA). What’s next? “Anything I can think of,” she said.

Mercader, a fourth-year student majoring in Spanish and marketing with a minor in information systems management, is following her passion for building community through her extracurricular involvements at Penn State. In addition to being president of the PRSA, she also is and vice president of university relations for Penn State Latino Caucus.

Central to these involvements is Mercader’s love for her country, spreading her culture and making sure everyone around her is happy.

“We Puerto Ricans are very proud and very loud,” Mercader said. “I’ve always shared my culture with others, and Penn State has allowed me so many opportunities to do that.”

Mercader explained that in her Penn State application essay, she wrote about wanting to become president of PRSA. Now, she proudly holds the position and aims to continue the organization’s legacy of providing a sense of community for Puerto Rican students.

“Since my first year at Penn State, I’ve been involved with PRSA. I don’t think I would have found my home at Penn State without it,” Mercader said. “Being at a PWI [predominately white institution], PRSA let me see people like me and be around my own community. I’m far away from home on the mainland, so that was important to me.”

Describing the club as “home,” Mercader paints PRSA as a safe space for Puerto Rican students but also a way for any student to feel connected to Puerto Rico. PRSA hosts many educational talks during their general body meetings, which Mercader said allows both native Spanish speakers and non-Spanish speakers to learn about Puerto Rican current events and news.

“A lot of the news in Puerto Rico is in Spanish, but a lot of the people who come to our meetings don’t speak Spanish,” Mercader said. “So, our meetings are a really good way for them to feel connected to Puerto Rico, to back home.”

Being the vice president of university relations for Penn State Latino Caucus is another way Mercader stays in touch with her roots and connects with other Latinx students on campus.

“The Latinx community at Penn State is small, but we represent a big change on campus,” Mercader said.

The caucus consists of several Penn State organizations which represent the Latinx community. Being around many Latinx students has allowed Mercader to embrace her Latina side and explore ways she can share her culture with others, she said.

One cultural expression Mercader has found to be popular is sharing her love for Puerto Rican food. With support and encouragement from fellow Latinx students, Mercader created Zee’s Kitchen, a State College-based cooking service that offers Puerto Rican-style food to the community, such as empanadas, arroz con gandules and coquito.

“They [the Latinx community] have always shown up for me,” Mercader says. “Everyone is so supportive and just there for each other.”

Recently, Mercader was crowned 2022 Latinx Royalty at the Noche Latina pageant. An annual keynote event of the Penn State Latino Caucus, Noche Latina showcases the “best and brightest of the Latinx community” through a pageant involving a walk-out song, personal monologue, talent show and Q&A. A friend asked Mercader to run on behalf of PRSA, thinking she would be an ideal candidate to represent their organization. However, Mercader was skeptical about doing the pageant at first.

“I am not your typical pageant girl. I am not skinny, I am not ‘the [typical] pageant queen.’ I am proudly plus-size. I didn’t think of running for the pageant,” Mercader said. “But then I thought about what it would feel like for someone like me in the audience to see and how empowering it would be for them. To show that I am who I am, and there is nothing wrong with being me. And that’s what I decided would keep me going.”

Running for Noche Latina became Mercader’s everything. She even enlisted the help of her grandmother, whom she flew in from Puerto Rico to State College to help her. Her grandmother suggested that Mercader put her own Latina twist on pageantry, and Mercader did — proudly walking out to Brujeria at the beginning of the pageant and later wearing a Puerto Rican cultural dress called a traje de jibarita. During the talent portion, Mercader paid tribute to her deaf parents in Puerto Rico by signing a mash-up of Marc Anthony’s “Preciosa” and Bad Bunny’s “Desde el Corazón.”

Winning the pageant confirmed Mercader’s connection to the Latinx community at Penn State, she said: “We stick together, and we celebrate together.”

Mercader is also involved in the Latina Women Association, the Association of Latino Professionals for America and the Marketing Association, and she is the university relations chair for Women in Business.

Mercader said participating in experiences and cultural connections like these would not be possible without the support of the University.

“Receiving a Bunton-Waller scholarship allowed me to go to college and thrive. Financials played a huge part in where I decided to go to college, and Penn State gave me the most support,” Mercader said. “I am a first-generation college student and am the only one in my immediate family in the United States. Affording college is important to me and reaching my goals has been a dream. To be financially supported by Penn State is the other.”

Additionally, Mercader said, the College of the Liberal Arts has pushed her to learn more about her culture and her language.

“I came into studying Spanish already speaking Spanish,” Mercader said. “But I’ve found that there’s always stuff to learn. Grammar, rhetoric, syntax — it’s really challenging in my classes, but it’s also rewarding. My Liberal Arts experience has been so advanced, and I’m grateful for that.”

Diversity, finding her people and celebration have been at the core of Mercader’s Penn State journey, she said, which she hopes other students get to experience.