Students got the chance to celebrate their identity by raising their countries flag in the flag room as part of an annual tradition at KSC.
12 students showcased their flag at the flag raising ceremony on Nov. 16, according to the event pamphlet. Although some students were not able to make it to the ceremony, two students were able to showcase more than one flag to show that people can have multiple different identities.
The new nation flags now hanging in the Student Center include Cambodia, Chile, Haiti, Kenya, South Sudan, and Scotland, according to a posting about the event on Keene State social media accounts.
Daniel Andrews, administration support staff for the Global Education Office, helped organize the event for the first time this year. He said this event was to give students a platform to celebrate their stories, culture, and identities.
“It’s this vision of creating an open and inclusive environment for students of all backgrounds and to showcase that for the university community or the people that visit the flag room,” said Andrews.
During the flag raising ceremony, students gave speeches about their flag. They also provided some insight to their culture and experiences, either coming to a new country or growing up in a predominantly white area. The students spoke on what their flag means to them as well.
Junior Smriti Gurung presented the Nepali flag at the ceremony. Gurung said, “To me, when I come to the flag room, I feel like I belong here.”
She added it is important to her that she was given the chance to represent her country and her family by being able to participate in the ceremony. Gurung said she hopes the school keeps the tradition because it shows people that they are not alone and there are successful students from their own countries.
“It shows to me that our school cares about minority groups and people of color that go here,” said Gurung.
Sophomore Ethan Davis also participated, raising the South Korean flag for the ceremony. He said he wanted to do it to not only represent his identity and to see that he is being represented on campus, but to also educate others on the country and speak on how it represents him.
Davis said to him, the flag raising ceremony is about sending a message that some people have a hard time fitting in, especially within a predominantly white area. In addition to that, it sends a message of being aware and being self-aware that others might not identify with the same identity others do.
“Coming from a minority perspective, I think that it is important that everyone sees each other for who they are and, more importantly, see each other as human beings,” Davis said. “The more that the student body gets educated about other walks of life, I think that that is going to make the environment here more giving and more accepting.”
Davis shared that “it’s okay and, as vulnerable as you feel and as scary as it can be to really embrace your culture and educate others, there’s nothing that compares to it.”
Timothy Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
