Vietnamese Cultural Night, 2009
Coming to college or university should be an all-around learning experience. Hence, there are many co-curricular activities that are organized on campus to allow students to have valuable experience that cannot be found neither in textbooks nor classrooms.
Here in St. Cloud State, cultural activities are organized almost once every week. Take for example the month of April; there are intercultural events like the Chinese Cultural Night, All Tribes Council Powwow, International Spring Festival, and not forgetting the weekly Cultural Café that is put together by the International Students Association every Friday, just to name a few.
The University has put a weighty emphasis on these activities. In spite of the current economy situation, huge funds go into organizing these events every semester. Students should take advantage of these activities and try their best to participate. They can either volunteer themselves to be helpers for these events, or simply attend as audience.
The main purpose of such events is to expose students to different customs and practices of various countries around the globe. The University is very blessed with representatives from every corner of the world.
Students who attend these cultural activities can acquire firsthand cultural demographics, histories, traditions, and values of a specific ethnicity from native speakers. What is better than learning from students who origin from that particular background?
Also, many students get to pick up foreign languages from the international students. I personally learn French from African students who came from French-speaking countries. Learning from peers is not the same with learning in a classroom setting. Many times, I get to make informal conversation with these friends. In this way, I practice French more frequently rather than simply learning its grammar in a classroom.
"Passport to the World," 2009
Check it out with students who attend cultural events and ask if they have always learnt something new. Besides, keeping an open mind and find out about other cultures help us learn to be humble. How so? By learning about other parts of the world, we step out of our own comfort zones and step into the shoes of others. This helps us to see the world in a whole new perspective.
Students can click on to the University’s website and explore the event calendar. The University Communications keep timely updates and announcement of events on the Web site. So, take a look at the upcoming events and choose one or two cultural events to attend in a semester. Most of these cultural events are free for students with IDs. Hence, there’s no harm apart from setting aside an hour or two for these events.
Don’t simply spend your college years without experiencing something exciting. Being able to partake in others’ traditions without having to travel abroad to those places is exciting. I can’t tell you more about how fun it is to see my international friends introducing their culture and take joy from there.
Look around and try it out for yourselves!
Jason Tham | Columnist
University Chronicle
