MSU students and greater Lansing community members were all welcomed to the MSU Union on Nov. 13 for MSU’s annual Global Festival.
The festival featured live performances, cultural exhibits from countries all across the world and a gift shop.
“The Global Festival is really special because, it’s – I think – the one event on campus that highlights all of the cultures of all of our international students,” said Joy Shantz, Global Festival coordinator. “It’s a one-stop shop where people can come and really just meet so many people from all over the world.
“It’s really informative, it’s fun for families and it’s free and open to everyone.”
With the divisive reactions that followed the 2016 presidential election, Shantz said the Global Festival came at a good time.
“No matter how people are feeling, I think that this is important for us as a country to appreciate who we have here and to understand our neighbors better and to understand each other better,” she said.
This year, students, staff and community members also had the opportunity to write messages of hope and show their appreciation of diversity and culture on a project board.
Fullbright Foreign Language Teaching assistant Huyen Pham said that participating in the Global Festival has been one of her most unforgettable memories.
“Many countries has very special and very unique things about their cultures that they want to show people from other countries and from other cultures,” Pham said. “And I think we can learn a lot from them.”
All of the proceeds from gift shop sales went towards MSU’s Community Volunteers for Internationals Programs efforts to create a scholarship for international students.