“Each country has a recognized flower, while they are beautiful individually, together they make a bouquet.”
This quote, found at the back of the World Student Association’s ticket to their annual International Dinner reflects the special theme of this year’s dinner. The event will take place on Nov. 16 from 6-9 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union ballroom.
President of WSA Connor Borowitz chose this quote himself because it adequately represents the diversity of every nation and their cultures.
“Last year’s theme was the Elements: Water, Fire, Air, Metal and Wood. We went along with the Asian theme,” he said. “It (this year’s theme) is definitely a more global topic, and that is what I really want to shoot for because flowers are very universal and not really exclusive to one location, obviously. So that is my goal for this year.”
The WSA aims to incorporate the flower theme into the ballroom’s interior decor as well.
“Because of the rarity of some of the flowers and how hard they are to get, we can’t really get those but the ballroom is going to be decorated in greenery,” Borowitz said. Nevertheless, he said that attendees are going to spend the night in a “garden-esque” space.
Aside from the main dinner, the night’s activity highlights include cross-cultural performances and a traditional costume fashion show, both of which have been trademarks of this annual event.
“With the International Dinner, we’d like the key bits basically the same because of tradition,” Borowitz explained. “People really like this event as it is from what I’ve heard from the feedback of the previous years.”
Last year, Borowitz was the secretary of the WSA’ s executive board and is now the newly elected president. As an aviation major, he expressed gratitude for the experience joining the WSA has provided him as in understanding the world beyond the American perspective.
“For my professional career, to the perception of the employers, it shows that I’m taking time to better understand the world around me, that I’ll be travelling, too — and that I can understand the cultural backgrounds and social etiquettes of different cultural regions,” he said.
Speaking from his perspective as an American, Borowitz hopes that the WSA’s events will foster reciprocal learning from both domestic and international students about each other’s respective cultures.
Borowitz had some struggles of his own with bridging gaps among cultures.
“I use English slangs a lot, so my adjustments there have been just trying to be more concise with my language,” he explained. “But, being on the Word Student Association, I’m really glad to help international students to kind of understand U.S. culture more, as well as have it as their second home, while still respecting their backgrounds.”
For ticket information, contact Andrew Betts, WSA’s treasurer at [email protected].
