By David Morris
Tasting (Chris Dietrich)
By David Morris
Mhmmmmm… Pepsi Rice.
Riverside Community College celebrated International Education Week in the Bookstore promenade on Nov. 15. RCC put on a rice cook-off and showcased performances from other cultures.
International Education Week gave students and faculty an opportunity to peruse through the various tables of several countries. According to Doug Graham, Coordinator of Student Activities, many clubs and organizations of RCC choose to sponsor specific countries.
For example the Law Society Club sponsored Brazil and the Karate Club sponsored Japan. These clubs and others took it upon themselves to find information and artifacts to present to the students and faculty.
“It’s good to see students take an interest in other cultures to display them to show what it was like,” Graham said.
To start off the festivities the featured event was the “rice around the world” cook-off. The winner was, Rebecca Culau-Reis, President of the International Club representing Brazil with her Peruvian rice cooked with Pepsi.
Clubs set up booths around the Promenade representing countries including Brazil, Germany, Korea, Nigeria, El Salvador/ Guatemala and Belgium. Each booth represented their countries colors, flag, artifacts, pictures and more.
Onyekachim Okpo, an International student from Nigeria, being only in the country for two months, thought that this event was significant to make people aware of other parts of the world, and felt privileged to see the differences and similarities of other cultures.
The Catholic Student Fellowship was also out in force advocating International Education with their featured events. Catherine Bordeau, a representative from Franciscan International spoke with Catholics on campus on Nov. 3 about humanitarian efforts abroad. Chris Schmenk, president of the club, expressed the club’s desire of being Catholic, which means Universal. Their presentational booth was on the Vatican.Some of the clubs organized cultural dance routines to add spice to the event; a Salsa dance by the Salsa Club, Greek dance by Alpha Gamma Sigma Club, Guatemala Folklorico dance by the International Club, African dance and the Cha Cha by the Dancing Touring Ensemble and a Karate performance by the Karate Club.
The booths however were alive with cultural foods, Origami, Katanas, unique musical instruments and a plethora of information about each country. International students such as Sebastien Loiseau from Belgium and Asana Nishikaua from Japan are excited about introducing their culture and about the opportunity to see many others.
