There’s a new shack on the Brickyard this year, and it’s packing a ton of energy and culture into a small space.

This will be the fourth year that Growing Cartagena, a senior in civil engineering, has participated in Shack-a-Thon, and the third year that he has personally organized a shack. Cartagena first became involved as a volunteer with a shack hosted in part by Mi Familia, the largest Latino organization at NC State, his freshman year, and loved the social experience of the shack and meeting new people.

Although the ethnic population at NC State is relatively small, it’s important to many of the organizations to show their representation and have a voice on campus. Being represented at Shack-a-Thon is one of the best ways to have a presence and be represented among the many other prominent groups.

“This is just a better way to share our values with the rest of the university and let them know that we’re here,” Cartagena said. “You get to build a bond and build a community and like possibly work with these people in the future.”

For other students joining the shack, the weeklong event is a great way to bond with one’s organization and meet new people.

“It’s fun. I didn’t do it my first two years, I got involved last year, though, because there’s so many diverse people,” said Corinne Canavarro, a chemistry and environmental technology major representing Just Cuz Crew at the shack. “I was also involved in dance shack and we were dancing all the time; it’s a fun vibe. And it raises money!”

The shack has four official partners: The Multicultural Greek Council, Multicultural Student Affairs, the Minority Engineering Program and Dance Shack. These partners represent more than 26 student groups on campus.

“A lot of small organizations with a lot of members overlap,” Cartagena said. “This helped split the cost evenly between all the organizations and keep it affordable.”

This is one of the first times that such a large number of multicultural groups are represented in a single shack.

The last two years Cartagena has led a shack for Greek life, focusing on community involvement and getting other organizations to participate. His first year, he had Greek Unity shack, representing all four Greek councils.

“I really want to expand on this, invite other people that I know want to have shacks. They have the resources it takes to have a shack but not the expertise,” Cartagena said.

Cartagena started by contacting the executive boards of several organizations, and found they were more than willing to contribute time and materials for the shack.

“At the end of the day it’s a really rewarding experience because you’re helping raise money for Habitat for Humanity,” Cartagena said.