In celebration of the diversity at Keene State College, students and faculty members from all over the globe spoke about their home countries at the annual Flag Celebration.
The Flag Celebration was held on Monday, March 2 at 12:00 p.m. in the Flag Room inside the L.P Young Student Center.
Before attending the event, some students admitted they hadn’t known all of the flags in the Flag Room are representative of the students who have studied at KSC from around the world.
At the event a crowd of thirty students and faculty members gathered to take a trip around the globe by listening to speakers tell the stories of their cultures.
Complimentary food and drinks were also offered for those who attended.
Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Paul Striffolino kicked off the event with a few opening remarks regarding the history of the Flag Celebration.
Striffolino said that the Flag Celebration is an event that is held every year in order to provide international students with a little piece of home.
Kyle Bailey / Photo Editor
“The flag event started the year after the student center was opened twenty-years ago. When international students see their flag in the flag room, it makes them feel like they are part of something and part of a community,” Striffolino said.
Of those who attended or heard about the event, Striffolino said that he hopes they recognized the underlying similarities between everyone.
“I have done quite a bit of traveling — some people have some people haven’t, but you gain an appreciation for all the people in the world, you see how different we are but also how similar we are. I think under some cultural differences there is unity in all of us being human and that is a connection I think is really important,” Striffolino said.
He continued, “It is really just learning to celebrate all the aspects of different cultures that makes our lives richer and that make the world an interesting place because of the variety.”
Both Striffolino and the Associate Director of Global Education Steven Spiegel agreed that holding these types of events is important for diversity on campus because it gives students the opportunity to celebrate and learn about different cultures.
“It is important to celebrate people who come from different places and it is important to recognize those who are from different places. These events also give a voice to people who can tell a little bit about where they are from and explain their cultures,” Spiegel said.
Striffolino added that the Flag Celebration also exposes students to new ideas, new ways of thinking and helps them appreciate all the different people around the world.
In terms of future events, Striffolino and Spiegel said that there are many more flag events and other diversity celebrations to come.
“In New Hampshire, we really do not have large metropolitan areas so it limits our exposure to diversity. I think it is important to bring the opportunity to learn about differences to campus because it allows students to learn and celebrate diversity,” Striffolino said.
Spiegel said that the flag events are held every spring semester. He also said that he hopes those who attend or hear about the event will be able to understand and recognize some of the amazing people that are on the KSC campus.
“I want to gain visibility for what is happening in international students home countries and other places. There are a lot of students here who are from other countries, but you would never know unless you spoke to them. That is why these events are held,” Spiegel said.
When Striffolino concluded his opening remarks, student speakers were able to take the floor and explain their cultures to the audience.
Striffolino and Spiegel said that the countries presented at the event were based on the students who were willing to recognize and celebrate their countries.
The first student speaker was KSC Senior Jessica Pierre, who was also master of the flag ceremony.
Pierre said that she chose to speak at the Flag Celebration because the event is close to her heart.
“When I was a freshman I raised the Haitian flag [here] and to me that was very symbolic. It made me feel like part of my country is here at KSC with me. That’s why Steve and Sandra asked me to speak and I was very happy to do so,” Pierre said.
Pierre added that she is an intern in the office of Multicultural Student Support as well as the chair of Multicultural Advisory board, so she has spoken at multiple events that have been put on during her time at KSC.
Of those who attended, Pierre said that she hopes they learned a little bit about each student and their countries.
“I hope that students learned about the different flags. I hope they also understand the importance and significance of this event for our campus and community,” Pierre said.
In terms of diversity on campus, Pierre said that she feels this event not only acknowledges the students that are here from different backgrounds and cultures, but also celebrates them.
“This event shows that these students are willing to share parts of who they are with us and that others are willing to learn from them,” Pierre said.
Pierre then introduced Harpreet Kaur, who spoke about India. Kaur said that she chose to speak at the Flag Celebration because she hadn’t been fortunate enough to raise India’s flag into the flag room.
“I am glad someone who was Indian raised the flag and showed my culture a little bit here before I could. I re-introduced India to Keene State [College] and I hope people got a lot out of what I said,” Kaur said.
She continued, “People aren’t aware of how many people in India sacrifice their lives for their country. Probably in all the countries around the world there were freedom fighters to the independence of their country.”
Like Pierre, Kaur said that she is also apart of the Multicultural Student Advisory Board as well as the Vice President of the Common Ground Multicultural Club on campus, so she has spoken at these types of events before.
“We did an event called ‘Celebrating the Motherland’ that was essentially a program to connect our roots back to Africa. Whether you were from India, your roots are from Africa. Whether you were from the U.S., your roots traced back to Africa. Common Ground on the other hand, we do a bunch of events to celebrate where people come from. We also do a cultural night where people display their cultural things through pictures, clothing, music and dancing,” Kaur said.
Kaur said that she hopes those who attended and listened to her talk about India were able to understand how great of a country it is.
“Personally, I love knowing different countries stories. I love hearing how they become independent from different types of European rule. Like I said before every country has some type of freedom fighter, some type of person that fought for the right of the people who stay in the country,” Kaur said.
Kaur said she feels that this event is important for diversity at KSC because people may not know that there are others like them that might also be going through similar situations.
“I can personally say that when I came to Keene State [College] I could not relate to anyone here. Then one day I found Common Ground and the Office of Multicultural Student Support. I met people there that I could relate to,” Kaur said.
She continued, “The Flag Room in a sense gives that to people like international students or people that lived here but they know where their roots came from and can see a piece of their home everyday.”
Once Kaur concluded, a student spoke about Switzerland and a professor spoke about Ecuador.
The Coordinator of Multicultural Student Support Sandra Garcia gave closing remarks before the event concluded.
Brogan Wessell can be contacted at bwessell@kscequinox.com
