Washington, PA (December 8, 2025) – Los Angeles: America’s center for the arts, culture, and music. Anyone can picture the iconic “Hollywood” sign, and many artists have felt the city’s urge to chase their dreams. Susana Lopez—a Senior majoring in Psychology and Spanish and minoring in CRS and GWS—felt such a call and decided to pursue a Magellan Project to learn about her culture through art.
“My Magellan Project was something I found to be personal and unique to my own experience,” Lopez explained when describing her Magellan, which centered on Latin American art, the stories they tell, and their connection to her cultural community. In Los Angeles, she visited several museums, studios, and street art pieces—especially in Hispanic areas like Lincoln Heights and Boyle Heights. She mentioned how these pieces were able to share experiences, life, culture, and traditions, and that she “admire[d] how art has the ability to hold these memories—these important topics—for a long time.”
Currently, Lopez is the acting co-president of W&J’s LatinX Cultural Association, and she has received the Hanson Award for CRS and used it to conduct a project on Latin women. “I think it has all prepared me and motivated me to learn more about my identity,” she mentioned—translating not only to her Magellan, but also to her post-graduate aspirations. Presently, she intends to become a therapist for the Latin community, a practice that is both frowned upon and limited within the community.
However, Lopez’s project is especially timely, coinciding with the recent ICE raids in Los Angeles that she witnessed firsthand. “That’s when the protests started,” she described, discussing how the ICE raids and protests propped up some obstacles for her. “But I made the most of it. I added it to my experience,” she said, further describing how she attended the protests because of their importance to her community. It even wound up reflecting the central theme of her Magellan: “The project has allowed me, especially with the protests, to see how the Los Angeles Hispanic community comes together for the common good—the art reflects that same close-knit community.”
About Washington & Jefferson College
Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, PA., is a selective liberal arts college founded in 1781. Committed to providing each of its students with the highest-quality undergraduate education available, W&J offers a traditional arts and sciences curriculum emphasizing interdisciplinary study and independent study work. For more information about W&J, visit www.washjeff.edu, or call 888-W-AND-JAY.
