Council will strive to unify nationalities through week’s events
International students compose 7 percent of USU’s studentbody and International Student Council President Christian Orr said he hopes this year’s International Education Week will help these students feel welcome in an unfamiliar culture.
“The majority of this group is overlooked,” Orr said. “They have a rich, rich heritage, cultural traditions and personalities. They add not only so much to USU but to the community. If we overlook that, or undervalue that, they will stop coming here. They will not feel a part of us.”
Varuna Ponnamperuma, International Student Council vice president and president of The HURD, said the week will give students from the U.S. a chance to experience culture that they normally only view through the media. In addition, the international students will be given a chance to taste U.S. culture and “feel like they are not from another country,” Ponnamperuma said.
“People here actually get scared to talk to international students,” he said. “They have a different mentality. It’s like the felt they would offend me by talking to me.”
He said he hopes the international students will be able to feel more confident about their cultural background at the close of the week and be excited to share it with others. He said he still practices traditions from Sri Lanka – his home country – including respect for his elders and curry dishes he occasionally makes for his roommates.
Events will be held every day through Saturday, Nov. 20 to display and celebrate the slew of diverse backgrounds that are woven throughout the USU student population. They will begin with Diversity Days, held Monday in the TSC Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and organized by USU’s Access and Diversity Center. A movie will play Monday through Thursday from 7-9 p.m. in the TSC Auditorium. Films will include “Outsourced,” “Maria Full of Grace,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “The Lemon Tree.”
Tuesday, a keynote speaker from the Utah Refugee Center will speak in the TSC Auditorium at 3:30 p.m. and professor Bonnie Glass-Coffin will speak on doing international research Wednesday from 3-5:30 p.m. in Room 154 of the Merrill Cazier Library.
Thursday, the Cultural Fair and International Fashion Show will be held for international students to display their cultures firsthand to the USU community through clothing, dance, food and other cultural traditions. Students will walk their own cultural outfits down the runway.
Ani Angalatyan, an Armenian student majoring in international studies, said she will be participating in the fashion show and is very excited to be involved because she believes it is important for her to foster friendships with her family in a different continent.
“The first challenge is being away from my family and my friends, the second challenge was it is very cold here and food is different. I miss my mom’s cooking,” Angalatyan said.
The biggest event of the week, Orr said, will be the Miss International Pageant, which has been a lasting tradition at USU. Pictures of prior Miss Internationals can be seen lining the walls of the third floor in the TSC. This year, Needham’s Jewelers will donate a tiara made from real jewels.
“Whoever wins the pageant, we still love their country,” Ponnamperuma said. “One side of the room is cheering for their country and the other side is cheering for theirs.”
Anyone may purchase an all-encompassing ticket for the events for $5 in the TSC ticket office.
Orr said preceding Saturday’s football game versus Idaho, there will be a tailgate party for all the international students beginning at 11 a.m. After the international students share their culture with the campus community, Orr wants them to participate in USU culture. He said his personal victory after the week will to have these international students “on the map.”
“International students don’t have to be isolated because we all have each other,” Angalatyan said. “We want to know these students so if they need us we are ready to help them out.”
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu