CONCORD HOSTS INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS BANQUET

Students enjoying festivities and a variety dishes.
Photo Courtesy of  Anastasiia Vorobeva

An Arabian Night themed banquet took place on April 9 and welcomed 300 guests with music and dance. Concord students, staff, local community, and even Bluefield State University representatives came to try exotic food and see performances arranged by the Concord International Students Club.

    Every year, students from abroad get a chance to cook their national food, showcase traditional dances, and show off the costumes representing their cultures. This year, the banquet’s theme was Arabian Nights, and so all the tables were decorated with Eastern-style lights to add to the atmosphere. The program started with a dance to Disney’s Aladdin to set the mood for the evening. Later, the dance broke out of the theme to switch between different countries’ national music. 

Other performances included a Japanese song, Nepali dance, a Tunisian song, a Pakistani dance, a Nepali song, a Japanese dance, a Vietnamese song, an African dance, and a Ghananian song. In between the show, the meal break was announced and all guests and participants got to try different meals from all over the world, including Karaage (Japanese fried chicken), Kafteji (Tunisian), Beef Rendang (Indonasia), Kunafa (Tunisian), Gulab Jamun and Jalebi (Pakistan) and some other exotic or familiar options. Some of guest enjoyed finding new tastes, and some of them decided food is something with which they do not enjoy experimenting with. Some of the guests swore that the food tasted exactly as it tastes in the country it represented. Between performances, Nancy Ellison, Director of Multicultural Affairs, and Sarah Wambe, Director of Admissions, honored graduating international students and gifted them with ribbons with the flag of their country. 

    The program ended with traditional fashion show in which students from Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, United States of America and other countries walked in their traditional costumes, brightening the stage with all kinds of colors and designs. After the event, students, staff and community members stayed to talk, to catch up with alumni who came for the banquet, or take pictures.

    Hannah Suydam Concord student, found the banquet to be a lot of fun. “It was actually my first time coming in the five years that I’ve been here, so it’s been a very good experience to see all the different cultures.”

    “I think this is one of the very best banquets we’ve ever had. The food was wonderful, the performances were wonderful… we had so many countries represented,” says Ellison. She goes on to state, “It was fabulous, and we had everything from Korea, to Nigeria, to Pakistan, Tunisia… everything. It is truly the most multicultural event hold on this campus every year.”

    “It’s been so great for me to come back,” says Ina Nikoli, Concord alumnus who came back to visit for the banquet. “I’ve hosted it for four years, so it was wonderful just to sit down, lie back, and enjoy it rather than be part of organizing it. I think it is very important when it comes to the cultural aspect of the whole town, of the whole school. It is a great way to show everybody, your friends, who you are around with, what your culture entitles, what it is and what you do back home. And I think it helps everybody understand each other better.”