Students learn a new game and new recipes at Grocery Loteria

Thursday, November 6, 2025

photos by Anna E. Reed, photographer (student)

Student engagement recently hosted Grocery Loteria. Loteria is a Mexican game similar to bingo – a Penn College favorite. In addition to learning a new game, players had a chance to win packages of ingredients – with accompanying recipes – to make common Hispanic dishes. The event coincided with National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Two students sit at a table in Penn College's CC Commons. One is holding up a loteria board. The other has a board sitting in front of him. A cup of bingo markers sits between them to mark their boards.

A player shows off her game board. Loteria is similar to bingo, except that, instead of numbers, players must match pictures of everyday objects that are drawn by the caller (or “cantor”) from a deck of cards.

A woman looks at a card while speaking into a microphone.

The “cantor” – software development & information management student Andrea Melendrez, of Harrisburg – calls out the next card.

An insulated bag with cilantro hanging out of the top. Sitting next to it are a recipe and a bottle of vegetable oil.

Ingredients for chicken fajitas await a loteria winner.

Karissa M. Prosser, Student Engagement information desk assistant, and Ellen E. Buckley, campus recreation assistant, verify a winner’s matchups. Prosser is a business administration student from Mount Jewett. Buckley, of Binghamton, N.Y., is studying industrial design.