‘The first place where I felt a sense of belonging’: Multicultural fair celebrates diversity at STU
- Brianna Lyttle
- 3d
- 3 min read
The St. Thomas University International Students Association (STUISA) held its annual multicultural fair on March 21. The event celebrated the diversity of culture in the student body through its talent and fashion show, food fest and a newly-added prom night.
Jon Kenneth, the Asian ambassador of STUISA, promoted admission and recruited volunteers to make the food fest dishes.
He also pitched in his own spring rolls and chocolate rice porridge. This was his first multicultural fair.
“I love big events, I’m a social person and I just like meeting new people at the same time … a week ago, they had us record [Instagram] reels for the promotions and it was really fun,” he said.
Due to preceding ticket sales, the team was uncertain of what the final attendance turnout would be, resulting in a pleasant surprise when the event took place.
“What I enjoyed was cooking and serving and seeing lots of faces,” he said. “I’m glad many people came, many of us weren’t expecting that.”
Aleena Naveed, a second-year student at STU, cooked two Pakistani dishes for the fair, one being a chicken sheekh kebab and the other being rasmalai tres leches cake, a South Asian and Latin American fusion.
Like Kenneth, this was Naveed’s first multicultural fair at STU.
“I wanted to represent our continent. I knew we didn't have a lot of people from here, so I wanted to be one.”
Sochane Campbell, a fourth-year student from Jamaica, attended the fair to represent her culture in the fashion show.
Previously serving as the Caribbean ambassador, she has made a point to never miss a year.
“I've always reminisced on my first year at STU and the multicultural fair, that's the first place where I felt a sense of belonging,” she said. "I felt like I have a community and a place where we all can, [for] one night, bring our cultures together,” she said.
Princess Obot, vice-president of STUISA, first attended the STU multicultural fair in her first year back in 2022.
In her second year, she volunteered, working up to the position of African ambassador and pitching in for last year’s fair. She still fondly remembers her first experience.
“I didn't really know that many people … the vice president at the time made me feel so welcome … going to the multicultural fair just seemed like such a different experience from what I'd seen over the couple months that I'd been at STU,” she said. “I saw my culture being represented.”
The fair was first discussed during STUISA’s first meeting in September, with concrete planning beginning in March.
Obot worked alongside Mishael Robinson, president of STUISA, to delegate tasks and help volunteers if needed.
She was also responsible for the planning of the prom night in partnership with UNB’s international student association, marking the first year the event had taken place.
Obot said she got the idea from the annual winter formal held by the St. Thomas University Students’ Union.
“We wanted to do something that is the same tune of the winter formal, but more for international students and also taking [into consideration] the fact that a lot of international students didn't do prom … for me, where I come from, prom isn't really a big thing. We just saw it on Western TV.”
While the turnout was lower due to the novelty of the event, Obot hopes for it to return in the future.
Last-minute volunteer cancellations created challenges for Obot and Robinson in organizing the event, with the two working together to find solutions.
“We think a little bit alike and Mishael is really smart, so whenever there's an issue, she's very quick … I feel like that's something that a team needs.”
Despite the challenges, Obot enjoyed being involved in the planning.
“STUISA tries its best to do little events here and there to accommodate different cultures,” she said.
”But I feel like the multicultural fair specifically is something that actually brings all those different cultures together.”
Comments