Nate Llaga ’27 credits Merrimack for giving him the tools to become the leader he always knew he could be.
Last year, he founded Belonging for Asians Organization (BAO), a student organization that aims to “create an inclusive community that highlights the importance of Asian American-Awareness and to spread information on our cultures,” according to a post on its Instagram page.
“At orientation, I asked myself why there wasn’t a club (for Asian American culture) when there’s an ALMA and a BSA,” he explained. “I knew I had to take the initiative. Asian American culture isn’t huge at Merrimack, but to build a community, you need to build bridges.”
Since its inception, BAO has hosted a slew of student events such as karaoke nights and origami group craft projects. Their marquee event, however, is the Lunar New Year celebration. Held this past Tuesday, Feb. 17, the campus-wide event featured student speakers, fan painting, calligraphy workshops, food trucks, and a performance by traditional Chinese lion dancers.
“If someone on my e-board is passionate about an event, I let them go for it,” he said. “The Lunar New Year celebration is one of those events that has a fun aspect to it but it’s also educational.”
Within a few short months, BAO has grown exponentially with new members and collaborators, thanks in part to the support of Greg Jain, director of Intercultural Initiatives, and the Unity House.
“I’m focused on the people who come to our events, if they’re having a good time and what their feedback is,” Llaga explained. “The reward is seeing students meet new friends and find their community.”
Llaga was born in Weymouth, Mass. and moved to Jacksonville, Florida when he was 11 years old.
“It was always my dream to come back to Massachusetts either for work or school,” he said. “Merrimack’s Augustinian mission was a big factor in me choosing to enroll. In my Filipino household, faith has always been important to me ever since a young age. I’m very close with Campus Ministry, Fr. Dan Madden (director) and Rileigh Armstrong (associate director). The service aspect on campus keeps my faith strong.”
So far, Llaga has attended two SEND Trips with Campus Ministry, most recently as co-leader to the Dominican Republic. In addition, he is an orientation coordinator and works at the Office of Intercultural Initiatives as a Unity House coordinator, which he described as “the most rewarding aspect of my time here at Merrimack.”
“I feel very blessed to be in the situation I’m in today,” he said. “I’m not taking my time here at Merrimack for granted. I think that’s why my faith is so strong because I feel like it was God’s plan to bring me here.”
Initially, Llaga came to Merrimack to study health science.
“I changed that within 30 minutes into orientation,” he laughed. “I changed over to marketing and from there I switched over to strategic marketing analytics because it’s more data focused. I don’t need to take any finance or accounting courses and I wanted to learn data science as well. It’s the best of both worlds.”
Llaga said he hopes to pursue his master’s degree after graduation. Right now, however, he’s focused on growing BAO and the Unity House.
“We’re a new club, so we’re open to new ideas,” he said. “We want the community to dictate what we do – we’re members-first.”
