International students make up a huge proportion of the UDM campus. As such, it is important for international students to feel a sense of security and to feel welcomed by the campus environment, and that was the goal of International Night in November.
UDM does a great job with our diverse organizations that you can find on campus. Some of these organizations include the African and Carribean Student Organization and the Asian Student Association. International Night shined the light on a lot of cultures by providing a slide show of the country flags, displaying country flags on their delicious cupcakes, providing speeches related to the event and also providing performances from multiple cultural groups.
Some of these performances included a performance from UDM’s very own music group on campus. Oriekaose Agholor, a senior here at UDM, is a member of the music group and also from Nigeria. He performed a few Afrobeat songs for the crowd. He mentioned that it was “thrilling to perform Afrobeats songs by one of my favorite artists, Fire Boy.” Agholor has been a part of the group since 2022, when he first founded the club two years ago.
Another attendee of International Night was Guershom Sylvain, who is a junior at UDM. His favorite performance from the night was from the music group, saying “I was familiar with some of the songs, and they made it seem like a live performance.”
International Night focused on the diversity of different foods by serving the students an abundance of different cultural foods. Guershom said his favorite dish was the Chaldean rice. One of the performances from International Night was a Hawaain Pacific dance. The Hawaain Pacific dances were very fluid and beautiful and did an amazing job of representing the culture.
One of the organizations that was present for International Night was the Titan Dreamers. Samantha Mena is a part of the Titan Dreamers. She described The Titan Dreamers as “an organization that works towards creating a safe space on campus for those who may be impacted by the immigration system.”
International Night is hosted by the International Students Office and helps with recruitment efforts and allows students to showcase their cultures. Mena also stressed how important it is for the university to have events like this.
“There are many students here at the University of Detroit Mercy that come from backgrounds that may not be prominent on campus,” Mena said. “Having a day where your culture is celebrated and cherished can help students feel seen.”
It is also important to host events like this on campus because it cultivates a vibrant environment for the university and allows every student to feel welcome.
Another presentation that UDM students got to experience was Irish dancing. A group of young girls showed off their dancing skills by dancing to traditional Irish music.
International Night was a very lively and upbeat experience for everyone of all ages and cultures to enjoy.
