On Saturday March 23, the University for International Education Center (UCIE) hosted its annual International Festival in the Student Union in three different locations; the Apollo room, Endeavor, and the Sky Lobby.
A flag parade kicked off the event, in which international students displayed their home countries.
“Festivals are all about celebration. We have festivals about things we deeply value, and I think it says a lot that Wright State does an International Festival because it is saying that we value interaction with people who are different from us. We think and believe they have value and not only that, but perspective that is so important that we need to know about it,” UCIE’s International Student Program Coordinator, Catherine Hernandez stated.
At the festival, people could experience a variety of food palettes from all over the world. “We have some local vendors that come by who sell international foods,” Hernandez said.
Some of the food included Colombian cuisine, Indian cuisine, Middle Eastern foods, Cambodian coffee and beer from countries like Jamaica and Thailand. Numerous musical and dance performances from various countries around the world drew large crowds to the stage.
This year’s festival also included a new addition: a kid’s zone where children could play, learn a skill like origami or even hear children’s books be read in a different language.
Hernandez believed the International Festival provided students an opportunity to learn more about other cultures, interact with other people from all around the world and potentially open the door for them to study abroad.
“I think what we find, however, is that people might have different traditions, but at the end of the day, they are still people. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to connect to somebody who has a different background from you, but laughs at the same jokes, and you can see peoples’ quirks and personalities and I think that is so beautiful,” Hernandez shared.
