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Students splash into culture
By Jay Corn
 Media Credit: Ashley Preste "Splashes of Culture," presented by the ISA, showcased a variety of talents from international student organizations, including the Arashi Taiko Drum Club.
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SCSU President Roy Saigo seemed to be enjoying himself Saturday night in Ritsche Auditorium. He and his wife, along with several hundred SCSU students, gathered for "Splashes of Culture," a night of music, dance and comedy.
The event is put on by the International Students Association (ISA) as an opportunity for the community to enjoy entertainment from around the world.
The Chinese Students Association opened the festivities with a performance of the lion dance - commonly associated with the Chinese New Year. There was also a performance by the SCSU global dancers and a virtual tour of Nepal.
The Japan Club put on a comedic performance, drawing round after round of laughter as they taught several youngsters the Japanese version of rock, paper and scissors. A Taiko drum performance wowed the crowd with their ballet-like coordination and rhythmic beats. Nairin Rojas of the Organization de Estudiantes Latinos Americanos (O.E.L.) tugged at the audience's heartstrings with her recitation of a Chilean love poem.
There was more to this night than entertainment, however. This was a night for SCSU to renew its commitment to international education.
"Global education is such an important part of this university; so important in fact that we have built it into our mission statement," Saigo said. "I see a lot of students and young children in the audience, and I always say that you'll remember nights like this for the rest of your lives. What you see here tonight is just a free taste of international culture, and when you go to these countries, you'll see the rich history and heritage that they possess."
Chunsheng Zhang of the SCSU Center for International Studies echoed Saigo's thoughts, and stressed the proactive role SCSU has taken in furthering international education.
"I am very pleased that we have a large number of international students that attend SCSU. While some of our peer institutions have experienced a decline in international student enrollment, international enrollment at SCSU has remained strong," Zhang said. "I'm proud to be a part of a university with such a commitment to global education, and for their part, the international students make the university better for all of us, and really help make our campus culturally diverse."
Just minutes after leaving the stage to a roaring round of applause, native Venezuelan Nairin Rojas gave her take on the evening's festivities.
"I'm glad we did something other than the traditional Spanish dances everyone is used to. I think everyone can enjoy a poem and find personal meaning in it, regardless of the language it's in," Rojas said. "Being an international student myself, I really understand how much tradition and culture matter to people and it's really nice to go to a school where the richness of culture is appreciated and celebrated."
Representing O.E.L., Rojas memorized and recited in Spanish (with power point words displayed on a screen behind her in English) five full-length paragraphs of a poem by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's famous love poem titled "#20."
"We all put in a lot of work for this performance; making the sets, setting up the booths in the lobby, and all the work that went into the different acts," Rojas said.
Some outside the international student community have seen the contributions of international students to SCSU first hand, and saw "Splashes of Culture" as a way to show how international students contribute to the diverse learning atmosphere Saigo believes is so important.
"This is a night for both unity and diversity and to show the commonality of people, and it's a pretty broad representation of people," said community volunteer Sue Westmark.
Westmark has been involved with ISA for 15 years, and says she can't help but to keep coming back.
"I love the students. International students are a special bunch, and after being overseas for a while, I understand the difficulties they face when coming to a new country to receive an education," Westmark said. "SCSU is lucky to have such a broad representation of international students, and the university is better for it. The American students don't generally appreciate what it's like to be transplanted, and be expected to study in a second language, even though most of them are pretty efficient.
"I really admire them because it's not easy to translate your thoughts into another language in a way that a professor is going to deem appropriate on a day-in day-out basis. I give them all a lot of credit, I really do."
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