By JULIA WILLIAMSÂ Contributing Writer
A celebration designed to bring students from all cultures together to share their heritage and traditions was held this past Thursday night in Standish rooms A&B of the Events and Athletics center.
The event, organized by the International Student Organization, was a celebration of international students. It was also a way to bring everyone together on campus, show appreciation, and let them know that Saint Rose cares. Anyone, no matter where they were from, was welcome to join the night’s festivities.
Students from all over the globe took time to share their culture with other students. Some special aspects of the culture carnival were the international foods, music, and games. Each table, set up by students from various countries, was presented to educate others about cultures they might have not been familiar with. Every table represented a different country and had a representative to give information about them. Some tables displayed artifacts from the countries such as currency, and clothing. Most of the people tabling were from the countries they represented. A total of eight countries were represented throughout the night, which included Egypt, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Vietnam, and more.
Each table shared trivia questions to see how much people knew about the countries and what they could learn in return. My Nguyen, president of the international student organization said it was her idea to have trivia questions at each table. Visitors could stop at each table and answer questions about different countries. If they answer correctly, they will receive a ticket. Once they have enough tickets, they are eligible to win prizes. Prizes included fake passports (they have country labeled stickers in them), balls with flags on them, and posters. The activities were planned to help people learn facts about each country. For example, the most famous cake in Taiwan is pineapple cake.
Nguyen organized the event with the help of her vice president. Together, they reached out to all the international students and invited them to participate in the event for tabling. Interested students got back to them by responding through email and describing what they wanted to do along with the countries they wanted to represent. Nguyen said that the organization has done this in past years and she wanted to keep it going this year. The twist on this year’s event was the trivia questions.
Freshman student Nardia Watkiss, said she attended the event because she wanted to see the different cultures here at Saint Rose. “I found out my name is an Arabic name,” she explained as she showed the write out of her name that they did at the Egypt table.
The food was the main attraction for Tiara Johnson, another freshman at Saint Rose. She said that she enjoyed the flavors in the Indian food. Her favorite part was the music, which included different cultural sounds from all over the world. Haiti, India, and Jamaica had their share of music for the duration of the night.
Tabling for Kyrgyzstan was an international student named Astra Shekenbaeva. This was the second year she was able to participate and introduce people and other students to her culture. The display of carefully designed scarves and material used to create wallets were some special aspects of the Kyrgyzstan culture.
Faiza Nasery, a Saint Rose student from Afghanistan, presented a video to the guests Thursday. She wanted to give this presentation to show a different aspect of Afghanistan despite what people have heard. An Afghan girl choir surrounded by a full orchestra was the subject of the video, which took place outdoors. They sang a heartfelt song about standing against oppression. A few of the lyrics sung were “I am a girl, a tree in the sun,” and “I turn stones into stars.”
The video showed the “beautiful, diverse, and multicultural mix of Afghanistan.” Nasery said that even after constant struggles, she and many other Afghan people hope that “one day everyone can live in peace.”
