Started in 1993, IUK's International Day Festival has been named the Outstanding Diversity Program of the Year by the Illiana Region of the National Association for Campus Activities. Above, Children of Indian demonstrate a folkdance.
Started in 1993, IUK's International Day Festival has been named the Outstanding Diversity Program of the Year by the Illiana Region of the National Association for Campus Activities. Above, Children of Indian demonstrate a folkdance. |
On a crisp, about-to-be-spring day last April, the Kelley Student Center at IU Kokomo reverberated with the rhythmic beat of West African drums. There on the floor of the cafeteria, where students daily wolf hamburgers and guzzle Cokes, a wildly exhilarating dance ensued.
With the flags of more than 65 nations waving erratically above them, and the drums beating in acceleration toward a rhythmic peak, toddlers, elders, singles, families, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, African American, German, Italian, Polish, Chinese, Catholics, Buddhists, Lutherans, Methodists, Quakers -- and MORE -- gyrated together, swept up in a joyous crescendo of celebration.
The occasion was the climax of IUK's fifth annual International Day Festival, which annually brings together hundreds of area residents who year after year look at each other and are amazed at their own diversity.
Perhaps more than any other activity, this admission-free event is a reflection of IUK's involvement with the diverse community it serves.
An effort that requires months of advance planning and involves faculty, staff and students, the International Day Festival features a food court, vendors with wares from around the world, a variety of family activities and a dazzling entertainment schedule. Last year's entertainers ranged from the Czechoslovakian Chorus, Hogeye Navvy (an Irish group), and Vietnamese and Indian dancers to the perennially popular Prince Julius Adeniyi and Drums of West Africa.
Last year, the festival was cochaired by Dianne Roden, assistant professor of finance, and Bridget Brewster, assistant director of development. History Professor Allen Safianow was in charge of lining up entertainment, and Dilip Pendse, director of IUK's MBA program, raised money to add new flags to the campus collection. As Roden puts it, "We wanted it to be something really fun that drew in the whole community."
To help promote family participation in the day's activities, International Day Volunteers provided coloring pages to youngsters in the public schools who were studying faraway countries and customs.
1998's International Day Festival cochairs, Campus Climate Director Catherine Barnes and Assistant Professor of International Business John Stanbury, promise the lineup of food, exhibitions and entertainment will be more diverse and exciting than ever before.
Says Barnes, "On this one day we come together at IUK and truly embrace our differences. We look like the United Nations."
Circle April 20, 1998 on your calendar now, and join the crowd in Kokomo for a joyful tribute to the world.
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