International Fair Shares World with Mt. SAC
November 14, 2019 - 03:51 PM
There was live music, cultural dress, flags from across the Earth, and a lunch for students willing to become more globally literate at the International Fair.
It was the biggest event for International Education Week, designed to increase students’ awareness of cultures across the world.
International Education Week is a national program put in action by the United States' State Department and the U.S. Department of Education.
But Mt. SAC may be the only school doing it like this. The International Students Program puts this event on.
The live world music attracted attention from across the campus.
Even the Child Development program came out. The kids in day care loved it.
“Only about 1% of college students have the chance to study abroad,” explained Darren Grosch, the Director of the International Student Program at Mt. SAC.
With hundreds of international students at Mt. SAC, themselves studying abroad, Grosch said they, “really want to connect a local student with another student or employee from Myanmar or Tonga, for example. That way we can harness the great diversity of students we have to become a way for other students to learn about cultures across the Earth.”
Students took a ‘passport’ to the exhibits, put on by students, staff and even faculty, and had ‘action items’ to complete in order to get a stamp. The action items were designed to teach students something.
The library had people spin a globe, stop it with their finger and the computer would bring up information on that location.
“What is an F-1 student,” another asked. Students needed to find a fellow student on such a visa so they can learn how they can study abroad themselves.
Even professors brought their students for this learning opportunity.
If they learned three things (action items), out of a possible seven, they got a t-shirt.
A completed passport also got students a lunch of global cuisine.
Empanadas, fried bananas, wontons, and lumpia were some of the offerings. You could refresh the palate with Thai tea or cantaloupe water, as made in the Philippines.
332 students completed the passport. Well over 1,000 people stopped by to enjoy some of the festivities and educational opportunities.
