STLCC Takes Part in Festival of Nations
BY: TYRA LEESMAN
Print Editor-in-Chief
The smell of curry and cilantro wafted down the central drive of Tower Grove Park. Saturday, and an estimated 120,000 visitors walked the shoulder-to-shoulder path, continuing over the next 48 hours.
St Louis Community College students could be seen wandering the lanes of Tower Grove Park near Grand, experiencing the St Louis Festival of Nations. The festival is an annual event featuring ethnic booths, dance, musical performances, arts and crafts. A few of the countries that were represented this year included Senegal, Ireland, and Syria.
“This [event] is an opportunity to be introduced to different cultures, foods, and traditions,” said Scott Armstead, the new head of the International Students Club on the STLCC Meramec campus.
“This world. This city. We need Festivals like this. We need inclusion and diversity,” said Alderman Annie Rice, after her speech at the official opening of the event.
The Festival of Nations is a cultural celebration of the diverse international cultures of St. Louis locals. Every year, the park event opens with more than 40 booths, tables for crafts, dancing and musical performances. Most years, the International Students Club gather to experience the event as a group.
The club includes people who are here from other countries and locals who see the value in getting to know a diverse range of ethnicities. For foreign students, they are sometimes here without friends or family, and clubs like these provide an opportunity to make new acquaintances.
“These are people and cultures you wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to come in contact with,” said Josh Lake, a festival attendee and former club member.
Armstead currently heads the club, though no students have actively signed up for this semester. However, students from the college still attended the event and Saint Louis Community College maintains an information booth at the festival each year.
“[Students benefit from] a sense of belonging. New friends, that’s what college is about. Experience, opening the mind, newness. It also opens up new experiences that you might not have tried before. I was NOT interested in photography until I joined the photography club. You never know what you might be good at, take an interest in,” Armstead said.
He stressed the importance of clubs for college age students.
To enroll in the International Students Club, students may email Scott Armstead at sarmstead7@stlcc.edu or stop by the library during open hours. Attendanc
e at the Festival of Nations is free to the public.
