On Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Alcorn State University held a Multicultural Festival between 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm in the James L. Bolden Campus Union Ballroom.
The Multicultural Festival is a festival held for students to embrace different cultures around the world. Students come to receive valuable information about different countries and how their cultures and traditions work. This program helps students to understand the importance of learning and exploring the differences that the world has to offer. To better acclimate the students with the numerous cultures at the festival there was a taste test of different foods from numerous nations.
Dr. Dovi Alipoe, Director, Office of Global Programs, opened the program by welcoming everyone for coming out to the festival. He also gave the students some advice before the festival began. “I challenge you students to have fun as well as comprehend the different cultures that are being presented here,” stated Alipoe. He explained how this festival plays a major role on campus and that the students should appreciate the information that was being given. By having a Multicultural Festival this helps students to expand their knowledge about the who, what, when and where of the different dynamics of different civilizations.
The speaker for this event was Paul Mattias Sundholm, the United Nations Security Council of Counter-Terrorism Executive Director (CTED). His position, which is based in New York, advises the Assistant Secretary General on terroristic activity that may deem problematic to the world. Prior to his UN position, Sundholm served as Deputy Spokesperson and Deputy Head of Press and Public Diplomacy for four years. During his lecture to the students of Alcorn State he explained “how learning and studying other cultures can be helpful in the work place. By having this type of experience it will look good on your resume or just having a general conversation.”
As the event was coming to a close there was a question and answer section for Sundholm. He stated to the students to “never limit yourself from learning different things around the world. There are so many things to learn about Russia, China, Brazil and many more countries. I am so happy that you all invited me because I sincerely enjoyed myself.”
Giovonni Davis, a senior from New Orleans, Louisiana stated, “I’ve learned so much about the different cultures from around the world and tasted some of the foods that were prepared. It was indeed an eye opening experience for me.”
To find out more information about this event contact Dr. Dovi Alipoe at the Office of Global Programs at (601) 877-6543 or alipoe @alcorn.edu.