Hundreds of students with open minds and mouths enjoyed the “concentrate” of over 20 cultures at the Multicultural Festival held on Thursday, November 19 at the Marple Campus.
In its second decade, this year’s festival offered Delaware County Community College (DCCC) students an academic experience for all of the senses. Each of the 15 booths assigned to a particular country, city, or culture offered a unique culinary delight.
Katherine Young taking her first bite of Peruvian Arroz con Leche, or rice pudding. (Photo by Maxwell McAdams) Warm, crisped vegetable dim-sum in a sweet and spicy sauce could be found in China while next door in Algeria, one could savor hot vegetable chili.
Students were also invited to look at the artifacts, maps, stories and brief historical outlines sitting on the corners of each booth. A host of volunteers, whose ancestors were from the country they represented, managed the booths and were available to answer questions.
The pleasures that could not be devoured or examined could be seen and heard from afar.
In the college’s large auditorium, KuluMele, an African dance and drum ensemble, preformed a vast repertoire of ancient song and dance numbers from Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, and Guinea.
“It’s a really neat experience to see so many cultures in one spot,” said Shelly Beecher, a 19-year-old theater major. “It’s like studying abroad for an hour… [One] gains a new sense of appreciation for a culture they might be learning about [in a class].”
Although small in size, the event’s preparation is a massive undertaking calling on the efforts of Campus Life, International Student Services, and the International Diversity Committee.
According to Amy Wendle, 24, Campus Life program coordinator for Chester County, the effort yields a reward that makes all planning worthwhile.
“Most students are not immersed in other cultures on a daily basis,” Wendle said. “The festival is an opportunity for foreign language students, history students and all students, really, to come together and get a better grasp on another culture.”
Wendle said the festival is also an exercise in cultural sensitivity — an experience where students may better learn to “appreciate and respect the differences between other ethnic groups.”
Other upcoming events can be viewed on the college’s Web site at www.dccc.edu/calendar. For detailed information visit the International Diversity Committee’s schedule page at the Delagate Portal under Campus Life.
Contact Maxwell McAdams at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
