Sophomore Maverick Tolentino, vice president of the International Cultures Club, addressed an audience seated in front of a projector screen in St. Mary’s:
“Welcome aboard, ladies and gentlemen. Grab your boarding passes, because today we’re taking a trip.”
The event was part of Diversity Dialogues Week, an annual event dedicated to discussing and raising awareness of diversity on the UP campus.
For their event, International Cultures Club hosted a PowerPoint presentation about three island nations around the world: the Bahamas, American Samoa and Sri Lanka. But rather than host a typical presentation, the group simulated an airplane ride, featuring boarding passes, drinks and flight attendants who spoke about the different islands.
A few group members talked about the personal significance of the event, and the ability to share their cultures with friends.
“I’m the first ever Sri Lankan on campus, so it felt really good to talk about my country,” Iddawela said.
Iddawela thinks having Diversity Dialogues Week is a beneficial part of UP, because it educates students about cultures they may not have known about before.
“I think just having events like this, and educating people about countries they might not really know, gives them a wealth of knowledge,” she said.
For their diversity dialogues event, Black Student Union showed the documentary film “Black Girl in Suburbia,” which sheds light on the experiences of black girls growing up in predominantly white communities.
Not only did BSU find DDW a good opportunity to spread awareness and share experiences but they also found another benefit. Because so many students may be required to attend a DDW event for class, the group found they could grow their membership from it.
“We got some of our members from Diversity Dialogues Week, when they decided to stick around afterwards,” senior Marissa Alexander said.
But senior Yazmin Abubakar, co-president of BSU, feels that the biggest benefit is educating people about issues.
“I think it’ll be good to just expose people to the lives of people of color,” she said. “This shows them the struggles they don’t know about that other people are facing.”
Abubakar said this is a different approach than what they’ve done in the past for Diversity Dialogues Week. Usually, the group holds panels to discuss issues, but this year the group had a chance to show the film, and took the opportunity.
Bethany Sills, multicultural assistant director, thinks that Diversity Dialogues Week offers students an important means to explore diversity.
“It’s really just a special week,” she said, “where any club, any student organization, or any department can showcase something about the unique mosaic of identity.”
Christine Menges is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at Menges15@up.edu or on Twitter @Christineybird.
