Dozens of students gathered in University Yard Saturday afternoon for the Student Government Association’s second-annual Day for the Nations event, where cultural student organizations showcased food, art and cultural performances.
About 90 attendees and 20 cultural student organizations, including Students for Indigenous and Native American Rights, Hawai’i Club and the Mexican Students Association, attended Day for the Nations to promote unity among cultural student groups. SGA Sen. Dhyana Holla (ESIA-U), a sophomore who chaired the Day for the Nations planning committee, said her goal for the event was to highlight diversity on campus and in student organizations and build community through shared cultural experiences.
The SGA launched Day for the Nations last year, when then-SGA Deputy Director of Student Experience Myra Goke proposed the idea to former SGA President Ethan Fitzgerald. Holla said she wanted to recreate the experience of last year’s event where U-Yard became “vibrant” with cultural food, games and performances she previously did not know existed.
Colorful flags representing dozens of countries surrounded U-Yard, which also housed a stage at the south end and a table with catered food from different cultures, including Italian and Japanese cuisines. Attendees could collect stamps from each table in mock passports passed out by SGA members, which they could then enter into raffles for gift cards for Tonic at Quigley’s and Bullfrog Bagels.
About 50 organizations and over 300 students participated in the inaugural event last year, marking a steep drop off in participation for this year’s event. Holla said this year’s comparatively low turnout might have been due to cold weather and the event being scheduled on a Saturday to avoid rain. SGA leaders last year hosted the event on a Friday, where the temperature hit a high of 68 degrees, compared to a high of 50 degrees this year.
Holla worked under Fitzgerald last year to help plan the event, and she said he selected her to chair the event this year. Holla said she will likely make adjustments to the event’s timing next year to make it more convenient for student organizations to participate. She said she began planning the event in November alongside SGA legislative and executive branch members and reached out to caterers and student organizations as well as holding a logistics training for participating organizations.
Holla said officials from the Multicultural Student Services Center also helped advertise Day for the Nations to students and coordinate with participating cultural student organizations.
“I’m really glad all of the orgs are showing up and showing out, and I think that’s what makes me the happiest about this event,” Holla said.
Malyna Trujillo, a junior and the president of the traditional Mexican dance group GW Folklórico, said events, like Day for the Nations, display the diversity of student organizations and students’ pride in their heritage. She said she tabled at the event to promote Folklórico’s Monday showcase, where they will perform alongside other dance organizations, including GW Argentine Tango and Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Georgetown.
“Especially now for us and our club, I think it’s a time when our community needs to be together and stand strong together,” Trujillo said.
Catarina Elizondo Arevalo, a junior and president of the Mexican Students Association, said she chose to participate in Day for the Nations to help connect students of the same culture and share a “message of unity.” She said the event helps highlight that both the University and the United States consist of people of different nationalities, giving students more awareness about the country’s cultural diversity.
The Mexican Students Association table featured Aguas Fresca, a term encompassing traditional nonalcoholic Mexican beverages, including hibiscus tea and horchata, a rice-based drink.
Ranna Zara, a junior and the president of the Philippine Cultural Society, said Day for the Nations allows different cultural organizations to work and interact with each other, when they usually wouldn’t do so. The organization’s table displayed a costume and props she said are from Filipino dances about fishermen and honoring the Virgin Mary.
“I’m so proud of everyone that performs,” Zara said. “And so for me, I think it’s just a very welcoming event for all of us.”
This year’s Day for the Nations event featured three performances — dancers from GW Argentine Tango and GW Folklórico, and a South Indian classical singer.
Sophomore and Ukrainian-American Student Association President Vladyslav Zaytsev said he wanted to inform people about his culture and his organization through his participation in the event. He is organization serves as a space for Ukrainian students to connect with each other and learn about Ukrainian culture and current events, and their table featured candy and packaged cookies that Zaytsev said represented Ukrainian childhood flavors.
Senior Isabella Marte tabled for Alianza, an organization that promotes Afro-Latino unity by connecting members to resources and educating students about Afro-Latino issues. She said events, like Day for the Nations, allow students to understand cultural organizations they didn’t know about before.
Alianza’s table featured trivia questions, books about Haitian decolonization and poetry by a Colombian Afro-Latino author, flags representing Afro-Latino countries and a Brazilian samba outfit. She said she was glad she was able to teach other students about Haitian history at a time when the federal government is moving to target cultural education.
“Just existing among other organizations allows people to just expand their understanding and perspective on organizations that they may not have known before,” Marte said.
