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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoyl
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| The Classical Korean Music and Dance Ensemble from Los Angeles performs at the International Festival on Saturday. |
Festival highlights international flare at colleges
For 30 years, the Claremont Colleges have celebrated their diversity in one of the most popular events in town. Thousands of students and community members got together for the International Festival, an event that showcases the draw of the Claremont Colleges to the international community.
Roughly 600 students from around the world come to the Claremont Colleges each year. Some stay to complete a 4-year Bachelors Degree program, while others study intensive English courses for a semester or a year before heading back home.
Dressed in traditional garb, the students set up 24 different booths with food and drinks from their native countries. Kimono-wearing Japanese students served frozen green tea lattes, Indian students offered chicken curry and French students sold crepes, perhaps the most popular dessert dish at the festival.
A first-time visitor to the event, Robert Washington wore his dashiki shirt from Ghana and enjoyed being a part of the cultural mix. He was surprised that his Turkish tabouleh salad was so spicy but liked it anyway.
“It was definitely the highlight of my food experience here,” Mr. Washington said. “I always like to try foods from different lands. This is a great place to do that.”
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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| The Classical Korean Music and Dance Ensemble performs on stage during Saturday’s International Festival held on the Claremont McKenna campus. |
“We are expressing ourselves and allowing people to experience our cultures,” said Bogolo Kenewendo, a Botswana native attending Pitzer College, who performed a traditional dance. “I want people to have an idea of what my country is like, especially the more traditional than the modern.”
The event also highlighted a program to get local families more involved in welcoming the outside world to Claremont. Community Friends of International Students, winners of last year’s Fourth of July community group award, signed up volunteer families to host students arriving from abroad in the upcoming fall semester. The students will stay with host families for 3 to 6 days before settling on campus as a way to get acclimated to American family life.
“One day, when they get married, I can go back and visit them and be their international student,” said Mayor Ellen Taylor, who volunteered at the festival to recruit new families and hosts students every year.
In addition to hosting many foreign students, the Claremont Colleges also sends hundreds of students overseas each year through their study-abroad programs. The programs are praised for offering students a chance to learn more about foreign cultures and languages that complement their regular undergraduate studies.
In his first year as head organizer of the international festival, Donald Delgado said the event could not have been so successful without volunteers from the surrounding community. More than 100 locals chip in their time to work at the event, including several Boys Scout troops, Mr. Delgado said.
“Anytime we get our international students in touch with people in the community, it’s a great thing,” he said.
—Tony Krickl
