Student Senate’s second annual Culture on the Quad took place yesterday on Olin Quad.
The event ran from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and featured several campus organizations, foods from around the world and cultural demonstrations.
“On top of the food, there [was] a variety of performances,” Ileana Ruiz, Student Senate vice president of diversity and inclusion, said. “[There was] a violinist, flamenco dancers, a mariachi [band] and a henna tattoo artist.”
The event featured an array of campus organizations, including the Black Student Alliance, Association of Latin American Students, Indian Students Association and the Asian American Association.
“[The organizations] had their own tables, giving [students] the opportunity to interact with campus and speak about culture,” Ruiz said.
At last year’s event, students in attendance were given tickets to get stamped at each station they visited. Stamped tickets went into a raffle that was drawn at the end of the event. This year, however, the event was different.
“This year, it’s first-come, first-serve,” Ruiz said. “There aren’t any tickets. We just wanted people to go to the stations they wanted to go to and mingle around. It’s a different approach.”
This change seemed to be received well by students.
“I went last year and I felt like there weren’t any opportunities to learn more about the different cultures other than the food,” junior sociology and criminal justice major Jhoanna Vega-Rocha said.
Vega-Rocha, Student Senate vice president of city & local affairs, said different organizations were located throughout Olin Quad this year.
“As people were in line for food, different cultural organizations were in the general area to talk to them,” Vega-Rocha said. “That way, [the organizations] weren’t ignored.”
Senior mechanical engineering major Dennis Gessert said he thought the event had a positive impact on students that attended.
“It’s a positive thing to advertise culture to the student body as a way for students to gain a bit more insight on different cultural backgrounds,” Gessert, president of the Asian American Association, said. “Another positive thing is making sure students of different backgrounds find other students they can relate to in a cultural manner.”
Sophomore political science major Sean Faron said he was interested in seeing the performances that took place at the event.
“I really like the different cultures and kinds of foods,” Faron said. “The event is awesome.”
