International Student Festival celebrates cultural diversity

The University of Illinois Springfield celebrated its rich international and cultural diversity with an evening of exhibits, artistic performances, food tasting, and more on November 11, 2011.

It was all part of the 34th annual International Student Festival, the longest running student initiated festival on campus, which this year focused on the theme “Explore Folklore”.

“It draws people’s attention to the diversity that we do have around here. It’s not just a small community with one kind of person it’s actually a lot of variety different types of people with different backgrounds,” said Cassie Bernardi, UIS International Student Services graduate assistant.

The festival was not only open to students, faculty, and staff, but members of the Springfield community, who came to enjoy the traditional festival. International students also enjoyed sharing their culture and learning about others.

“We don’t get to see this back at home, so organizing this type of fest gives us new ideas and we can share our ideas,” said Sanjay Kumar, an international graduate student majoring in Management Information Systems.

The festival featured professional storytellers performing their craft as part of the folklore theme. Participants shared music and tales from around the globe during the cultural exchange.

For more information on services for International Students and programs, please visit www.uis.edu/International/.