UNC Latino frat makes kid connections

Nick French was willing to put up with a moment of pain for a day's worth of pleasure.

Sure, it hurt a little when the paper plate full of whipped cream would smack him right in the face. But he's 10, and it (begin it) was (end it) whipped cream. It's not like he got popped with a plate of broccoli or anything. So he was more than willing to stick his face in a display hosted by Native American Student Services of the University of Northern Colorado and volunteer to be a target.

"It was really fun to do it," Nick said. "It was really, really, really fun."

Nick and his brother, Josh, 12, both of Greeley, volunteered to be targets. Josh went first and then wanted Nick to act as a target to get him back. Nick said fine and liked it so much, he acted as a target for others who stopped by the booth.

"I hit him," Nick said, "and then I ran away."

The booth was popular enough to average about 30 kids an hour, either those who wanted to toss a plate of whipped cream or those who wanted to be a target. But it was packed at Sunday's Nakland Children's Carnival hosted by Nu Alpha Kappa, a Latino fraternity that celebrated its first anniversary Sunday. After all, there were clowns, dances by Native American tribes and just about every carnival game you could imagine. And the weather was perfect.

The guys from Nu Alpha Kappa -- all eight of them -- worked all year to put on the carnival for free, said Ivan Diaz, a senior, and Nelson Rodriguez, a sophomore.

"We wanted to let people know that there are Latinos on campus," Rodriguez said. "There's also a big gap between the campus and the community, and we wanted to offer a chance to get kids introduced to the campus and show them the importance of a college education."

The pie booth, of course, continued to be a big hit. Kyra Newton, 6, screeched after she got smacked with a pie.

"They kept on smashing me, and it all wound up in my hair," Kyra said through giggles and a face full of cream.

Rene Olivas, 11, and José Olivas, cousins who live in Greeley, traded chances to hit each other with a cream pie.

"I mean, it looked like fun," said José, 14, "and it was free food."