The Greenfield Intercultural Center provides support for student groups such as the United Minorities Council.
Credit: Anna VazhaeparambilThe United Minorities Council, in conjunction with the Class of 2028 Board, hosted its annual intercultural fair featuring food, student performances, and free merch.
The UMC — established in 1978 — is a coalition of minority student organizations at Penn that brings together over 30 student minority organizations to promote cultural diversity and learning at Penn, allowing students to travel the world in Houston Hall. This year's cultural fair — themed "Pokémon" — featured international foods, drinks, and eight different performances from a cappella groups and lion dancing to Argentinian tango.
Each year, UMC chooses a theme for the fair that ties into their free merch. Last year, students were given passports and received stamps for every "country" they visited. This year, students could obtain T-shirts and tote bags if they collected six Pokémon cards from the six different regions found in the Hall of Flags.
“We want to make sure that there’s something that you can take away from the event," College junior and UMC chair Tyasia Cannon told The Daily Pennsylvanian. "The Pokémon cards [were] something very, very important to us to make sure that we had, just so we can allow for organizations to have an individualized thing to show that they're a part of this event, other than tabling."
She said that planning for the event starts the semester prior.
“We knew one thing this year was really making sure that we don’t only have a highlight of cultural organizations on campus, performing arts organizations on campus, but also community advocacy organizations, so we added a part of tabling that includes community advocacy organizations around Philadelphia,” she said, referencing the Asian Americans United table.
College first year and Class of 2028 Board president Mert Kayabas talked about the Class Board's longtime involvement with the annual fair and creating an experience for visitors.
“It’s a ton of fun, and it’s a great way [for the] United Minorities Council and the general student population [to get] exposed to a lot of the cultural groups on our campus,” he told The DP. “I know that a couple of these groups have one or two performances a year, and it’s good to give them another opportunity to showcase what they’ve worked on throughout the year.”
College sophomore and Penn German Society co-president Niklas Romberg commended the UMC for their work in representing German culture. Their table had a popular German board game called “Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" — which translates roughly to “Don’t Get Angry, Man!” — and works similarly to the American board game “Sorry!” They taught those approaching the table how to play the game, while also teaching them some German words and offering popular German gummy bears, Haribo.
College first-year Diego Fernandez, who helped run the Paraguay table, showcased traditional Paraguayan cold-brewed herbal tea, called tereré, which is made from yerba mate.
He also commented on fair attendees' willingness and enthusiasm to learn about the country.
“I love that we’re getting represented,” he said. “I think that having a space and having so many diverse countries at Penn is super important, and I’m really glad to be here.”
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