To take a break from the stressful time the end of the semester brings, ASU students and organizations gathered in front of Barrett, the Honors College dormitory on Thursday to spread awareness of students from different cultures that call ASU home.
The second annual South Campus Festival for World Change offered students performances from the ASU Tango Club and an African drumming ensemble among others. Everything from taquitos and spring rolls to ravioli and other cuisines from different cultures were available for students to sample.
“We’re trying to get people to learn more about themes going on (on) campus and (with) different cultures,” global studies senior Dilim Dieke said.
Dieke, one of the event founders, said the inaugural event last year attracted more than 400 students.
Dieke said she wanted to start an event so that ASU students could learn about organizations on campus that deal with issues such as women’s health and those concerning the environment.
“This is going to be all about social change, spreading love, coming together,” she said.
Political science senior Pamela Flores helped serve the diverse food available at the event.
Flores said spreading the word about diversity is very important on a college campus like ASU because of the people from different cultures that attend school here.
“We want to keep it going for years and years,” Flores said. “Hopefully it gets bigger and bigger every time.”
One group that Flores got to set up a booth for was the Solar Hope Project, a local nonprofit organization.
Interdisciplinary studies senior Geoff Kosirog is one of the founders of the Solar Hope Project, which helps get solar panels for organizations that otherwise would not be able to afford them.
Last summer the project helped build a solar panel system for an orphanage in Mexico, Kosirog said.
Co-founder Logan Antelman had been working with the orphanage for the last 10 years and saw a chance to help the orphanage by installing a sustainable energy system.
“I just saw the need for it and it sparked an idea,” Antelman said.
At a different booth stood political science and global studies sophomore Rachel Chewakin representing Project Cure, a nonprofit organization that ships medical supplies such as syringes and scalpels around the world.
Chewakin worked with Project Cure for her Voluntary and Leadership Skills class.
Chewakin and three of her classmates held two fundraisers throughout the semester and thought the Festival for World Change was a perfect place to promote Project Cure.
While Dieke has been heading the event for the last two years, she won’t be next year since she is graduating.
However, she said she doesn’t think it is going to be something that only happens once or twice.
“It’s going to be something that lives on,” she said.
Reach the reporter at ryan.mccullough@asu.edu
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