By Candice Stilwell | Staff Writer
As midterms came and went, Caleb McGevor, a second-year Whitworth student, attended the Cultural Crafts and Snacks Night. According to McGevor, it was a night filled with “awesome, enlightening and craft-full” fun. On Friday, March 17, at 6:30 p.m., Whitworth students gathered in the MPR at the HUB to learn about and engage in crafts that originate from different cultures around the world and try different cultural foods as well.
ASWU’s Cultural Events Coordinator, Jessica Lopez, organized the event. “One of my biggest goals with this position is to make BIPOC students feel welcome on campus,” she said. “My main objective is [to create] some sort of community in a safe place for them.”
“It is Thrive Week, so we’re trying to make events that are stress free and relaxing. I know that playing with crafts and taking a break from school is also really fun,” she said. This event combined both of her goals by creating a stress-free environment where students could explore different cultures, be reminded of home and take a break from schoolwork.
Whether, like Gregor Lang, you attended the event because your friends who are international students encouraged you to, or, like Simi Adegbesan, you had another event nearby and thought it would be fun since you were in the area, anyone who showed up to this event was able to explore many different cultures. Students used various mediums like fabric weaving, pinata making or ceramics to get to know a new culture and escape the stress of midterms.
Overall, the Cultural Crafts and Snacks Night was a great chance to decompress and relax from the pressures of school. Through making crafts and trying foods, students learned more about different cultures and created new memories – and crafts – that will stand the test of time.