On Saturday, Oct. 7, several multicultural student groups gathered in the lower quad, all coming together to participate in a replica of a Vietnamese traditional market called the Night Market.
At the market, each of the seven multicultural groups set up and decorated their own tent. Each one was different; most displayed cultural foods, others had a jar of misconceptions/fact jars, and some even had merchandise for sale. Throughout the event some of the groups even entertained those attending the market, either by dancing, reciting poetry, or in some other medium.
The idea for this event came to sophomore Long Tran. He, along with the other groups, began planning for it in the summer. An event such as this has never before occurred on Augustana College’s campus and it was very important to all of the groups in attendance. For some groups, such as the Black Student Union, it was important because it gave them an opportunity to show their peers that, despite being on a predominantly white campus, there is a community of students of color. For others, such as the Vietnamese Student Association, it was important because they want Augustana to be educated about Vietnamese culture and traditions and this event enabled them to make that desire a possibility.
Junior Amanda Corona is the president of Latinx Unidos, one of the groups that was represented at Night Market.
“It’s nice to see that all the culture groups are coming together to have a big collaborative event. It’s also good to see that so many underclassmen have taken initiative in the event because it was begun by an underclassman, Long. It’s really nice to see the outcome,” Corona said.
Senior Hanan Kayali was at the Muslim Student Association (MSA) tent and said, “Augustana in general doesn’t have a lot of diversity. This is a way to have people come and see the different groups.
You don’t have to be of that particular group to join their group you can just join it and learn. I wish people would ask more and be involved because our organization is very small—there aren’t that many Muslim students and so it would be cool to get other people to learn about it,” she said.
Sophomore Mikaylo Kelly was at the Augustana Local Agriculture Society tent. He said, “There’s a lot of different communities of students that co-exist at Augustana, and oftentimes they’re not so visible. Mainly, you just see a whole bunch of white kids walking around campus—which is the main demographic—so I think it’s important for them to make themselves seen, and educate everyone about what they do and why they do it, thus creating a tighter-knit community here at Augustana.”