Saint Michael’s celebrates 14th International Festival

This weekend marked another year of amazing performances, people, and food at the 14th Annual International Festival. More than 500 people were in attendance to watch a variety of performances, and sample cuisine from 30 different countries at the Tarrant Center at Saint Michael’s College on Saturday, Nov. 4.

Kimoi Seale ’06, the Assistant Dean of Students / Assistant Director of the Center for Multicultural Affairs, was very impressed by this event because “the festival is a student-run program, and the leaders involved were able to work collaboratively to organize one of the largest and most successful programs for our community. In a time when our society and the world are struggling with division and conflicts, it was wonderful to provide a counter narrative of people from all over the world and all backgrounds enjoying each other’s company and in celebrations of each other’s cultures and cuisine.”

Over 50 student volunteers organized and ran the festival, with 16 performances throughout the day including Hawaiian Dance, Celtic Dancing, Akome African Drumming, traditional Japanese dancing and many more.

The event was sponsored by the Diversity Coalition, You Count, the Center for MultiCultural Affairs, Sodexo, Study Abroad, Student Life and the Department of Applied Linguistics.