World Pageant Provides a Cultural Experience
PC: Levi Ventura
On Nov. 3, the International Club hosted World Pageant with assistance from the ASB team. Students with cultures from all over the world came together to celebrate the diversity at Union College. A few faculty and staff members volunteered their time to judge the pageant and decide who would win the title of Mr. and Ms. World Pageant 2018.
To start off the event, ASB provided food representing the cuisines from several different countries. Students chose between Greek, homemade Ethiopian, Mongolian sushi, Chinese and Which Wich. An assortment of cheesecake and drinks to completed the meal.
The pageant began with a beautiful rendition of “We Are the World,” by students from the Fine Arts division. “I feel like it was the perfect opening because it really showed that even through all of the differences, we all can just join together and be one,” said junior international rescue and relief major Racquel Amich. With Denford Musvosvi and Nathanael Torres as the MCs for the night, the audience was the benefactor of several jokes and was informed of each participant before they took the stage. Jamaica, Ecuador, Polynesia, Mexico, various countries in Africa and the United States of America were all represented cultures. Participants were expected to don cultural attire during his or her first appearance on the stage. After the catwalk, everyone had a chance to perform an act they felt represented their culture.
“The Polynesian team did really good! I liked that Naifou involved people from the audience in their performance. I think it’s cool to see new kinds of dances,” said junior psychology major Celinda Mansilla. The finale of the night featured the Capital City Cloggers from Lincoln. Afterwards, Naifou Meafou and Kimberly Ortiz were announced as the 1st place recipients.
The International Club president, Corine Ilunga Maloba, reminisced on the event. “The most rewarding thing was to see the people who said they would think about it ended up winning and doing well which was encouraging for us.” While the officers were able to find contestants, it was challenging for the club to find students to participate because students didn’t have their traditional attire with them, as they were used to the event being hosted in the spring. The next collaboration between ASB and the International Club will be World Cup at the end of next semester.
Yeimy Rodriguez is a junior studying business administration.