A 10-year tradition to promote the international community, connect people from all around the world and to share cultures continued Saturday.
The International Dinner is an annual event held by World Student Association. This event attracted an audience ranging from students around the globe, who are currently studying at the University, to teachers and staff from International Programs and Partnerships.
“This event is a great opportunity to gather international students as well as foreign students coming from different countries,” junior supply chain management major Vi Trinh said. “This event is unique in the way that it gathers all international students, most of the teachers, even the board of the president also came.”
It began with a flag ceremony with representatives from 30 countries holding and waving the flag to the song “Wavin’ Flag.”
The show carried on with a variety of performances, such as a song performed by Vietnamese singers, a dance from Bollywood culture, a Kung Fu performance and more.
“It is a great way to showcase different culture to people of other cultures, so those come who might not have a lot of experience and multicultural setting can come and celebrate,” Mary Solomon, the community service chair of WSA, said.
An important part of the night was when the food from a variety of cultures was served to the guests, including dishes from India, the Middle East and Asia.
The spotlight of this event was the modelling show where international students wore their traditional outfits from their countries. Each model received a lot of applause from the audience as they posed with their clothes.
“I think by the exposure, they really help to develop a multicultural awareness and relationship between people who come,” Solomon said.
In the future, this event will continue to raise awareness in cultures of international students and staff and remind them they have a place to belong.
