Students discover campus diversity with CultureFest

New and returning IU students mixed and mingled at IU’s annual CultureFest on Thursday.

CultureFest has long been an IU tradition that introduces incoming freshmen to all the culture IU has to offer. Through international food, live music and a motivational speaker, freshmen should be inspired to branch out a bit – and branch out they did.

This year’s motivational speaker, Kevin Wanzer, spoke at the IU Auditorium about embracing cultural differences.

“He incorporated a lot of humor into the message,” sophomore Sara Frey said  after the event.

Frey said her favorite part of the speech was listening to Wanzer talk about funny memories with hidden messages, which ranged from snipe hunting to a crazy McDonald’s drive-thru.

Juniors Morta Lapkus and Lauren Sweeney came back to experience their third time
at CultureFest, specifically to get a free caricature drawing.

“It’s really one of the best parts of Welcome Week,” Sweeney said of the event. “It’s kind of like a miniature Taste of Chicago.”

As great as the diversity speeches and lectures are for new students, the true heart of CultureFest lies in the exchanges between students during the festival. The conversions students had with one another outside the auditorium seemed to be just as important as Wanzer’s speech was inside.

Students sporting their new IU garb — T-shirts, lanyards and more — gathered and exchanged their names, dorms, majors and hometown information to a backdrop of diverse sights, sounds and tastes.

Robby Howard, David Stewart and John Glennon were three such freshmen. They said they met Wednesday during their move-in into Teter Quad and decided to come to CultureFest — under the premise of free grub.

Though they said they enjoyed the food — pizza, Chinese dishes, Mexican cuisine and more — they also liked the variety of performances, such as break dancing, music from Bloomington-based New Old Cavalry and even swing dancing.

“It’s not really my thing, but it’s really nice to see other people doing things that make them happy,” Howard said.

He also said the event was all about exploring different cultures and choosing interests. Howard said CultureFest was about realizing that even though people are different, they are really all just the same, and his friends agreed.

Though IU might seem overwhelming to freshmen, events such as CultureFest provide a forum for them to explore some of the many opportunities on campus and help to make this big new space feel a bit more like home.