By Diamond Hairston
Giving recognition to Vietnamese culture, Campus Activity Boards (CAB) held a Cultural Café event on Jan. 30.
CAB is a student organization group that facilitates cultural, social, recreational and educational events at the university. This was the first time that Vietnamese culture has been recognized at one of the CAB Cultural Café events.
The atrium of the Student Center was full of students at the CAB’s Cultural Café event, happily participating with the cultural events and games.
There were tables where you were able to get henna, your flag of choice painted on your body and many other arts and crafts that are symbolic to different cultures. The Vietnamese table attracted a lot of the students, offering spring rolls and other traditional meals.
There were tickets on each table that were given to students as they participated in events. The tickets were perks, redeemable for refreshments and desserts.
Kimuan Biu Je, a young member of the Vietnamese Student Association, mentioned that it was his mother who cooked the food and was “very excited to see how others enjoyed her cooking.”
Bui Je said he really was enjoying the event and said it felt good to be part of the organization.
Vy Iam, the president of the Vietnamese Student Association, spoke about how the event allowed her and other members of her team to make students on campus more aware of the things taking place in their culture.
Iam spoke of her plans to have a table where she could show the students step-by-step how to make spring rolls and how to brew fresh coffee, but she did not have enough time. However, if you join the Vietnamese Student Association, you can learn how to make their traditional meals.
Samar Khan, in her second year with CAB as the executive diversity chair, is a graduate working on her MBA in health care.
Khan’s focus was “to let the CSU community know about the organization and Vietnamese Culture.”
She strived ,“to bring together activities from different cultures for the students to learn about and participate.”
The Vietnamese Student Association is a newly formed organization and were invited and participated in the event. By doing so, they hoped to bring awareness to their organization to the students on campus.