COLUMN: International banquet showcased talents, was success
Wednesday an assemblage of approximately 560 students, faculty, administrators and members of the Logan community attended the International Banquet.
The theme for this year’s banquet, “Different Faces, Same Smile,” suited the friendly and talented international student performers, cooks and coordinators. With support from the International Student Council, several volunteers put in time and effort to make the banquet a success.
One thing I would like to bring to people’s attention is that this banquet was based mainly on volunteers, and special credit goes to Naser Salehi, Diane Jackson and Minha Lee. These were the students who organized the program with the help and supervision of Fahima Afroze, president of the International Student Council.
The first half of the evening was dedicated to the banquet dinner with a broad variety of exotic and delicious courses from 12 different countries. Cooks were asked to submit multiple recipes over a month in advance so the chefs from the Carousel could approve and collect the ingredients.
The international student cooks started preparing the food under supervision from the Carousel chefs about two days before the banquet. The menu featured a range of dishes from spicy foods to sweet desserts. We thank all the volunteers who found time for this activity during the high-stress period of the semester.
Minha Lee and I were the Masters of Ceremonies and started the program at about 7 p.m. after everyone was seated. The anxiety of standing in front of 560 people was a real nice and stressful experience. However, it went really well as after the show everyone congratulated us. There was something there to fit the tastes of almost everyone, for instance I especially enjoyed the baryanee from India.
Our deepest thanks goes to Utah State University Catering for organizing and setting up the food for our guests. They performed a magnificent job managing such a large group of people and they were able to do it so well that it took only about one hour to feed more than 560 diners.
Negar Davis, director of the International Students and Scholars said, “It was a delightful event and an exciting opportunity to try different ethnic cuisines from so many different countries.”
By 8:30 p.m. the entertainment portion of the evening started. Dances and routines were performed by a few of the exceptional international students at USU.
Early in the show people found out there is a unique style of martial arts called Afro-Brazilian martial arts, which is completely different to what we see in the movies. The group who demonstrated this for us is called Capoeira and consists of students from USU who practice this dance. The skill was originally created by members of the slave community and includes music, acrobatics and splendid choreography.
The grand finale of the show consisted of three different dances presented by the Polynesian club. These performances focused on the culture of the Hawaiian Islands. As always, the Polynesian Dancers did a wonderful job of engaging the audience in their fun and beautiful visual communication.
The banquet featured Vani Gadam from India who performed a brilliant dance portraying the Indian culture. In her bright traditional clothes and matching smile, she gracefully touched the hearts of her audience.
The character of the International Banquet cannot be described in words. It is something one has to attend and experience and I encourage everyone to come and enjoy it next year.
Imran Rana is a junior majoring in business information systems. Comments can be sent to imran@cc.usu.edu