Students representing six different countries spanning four different continents raised their flags in the L.P. Young Student Center’s Flag Room to celebrate the diversity of Keene State’s international student body.
The event, which took place on Wednesday, Nov. 19, began with opening remarks by junior Kanchan Gurung as she gave a land acknowledgement and introduced each nation along with the KSC students from or associated with these nations.
The flag room in the Student Center was packed with students, faculty and community members for the annual tradition. Global Education Office Coordinator and Global Cultural Club Advisor Lisa Johnson spoke on the attraction of the flag ceremony.
“It draws people in from the community, just being together to share space is very special,” Johnson said, “It’s an amazing learning opportunity that people may not always know about Ukraine or Lebanon or the countries that are being represented.”
Assistant Professor of Safety and Occupational Health Applied Science Lito Amit ran the presentation of flags and first brought up Kathy Dang and first-year Su Tran, both representing Vietnam. The event was sponsored by the Global Education Office, the Global Cultural Club, the Office of Student Involvement and the Office of Community and Belonging.
Both students shared stories of their many connections with Vietnam and Tran performed a song in Vietnamese to cap off the presentation for Vietnam.
Aubry Lepine represented Lebanon and provided information about the country and some of her favorite aspects during his presentation.
Sophomore Sheldom Vasquez raised El Salvador’s flag and gave a speech about the nation. Vasquez said they previously did not have any speaking experience, but felt this event was the best opportunity to gain some.
“This is my first time speaking in front of a large audience, so it meant everything to make sure I got information right and to represent the flag that means a lot to me,” said Vasquez.
Vasquez said they admired the event. “It’s good to know there’s people from other places around the world that also have similar stories and similar pride in their flag,” Vasquez said.
Two other countries that were honored were Uganda by Jamie Nakiranda and Ukraine by Ashley Cybruch. Cybruch and Nakiranda both gave speeches about their respective countries before first-year Jari Stacher gave his speech for Switzerland.
Stacher plays for the KSC Men’s Ice Hockey team, who were all in attendance to support their teammate.
Stacher gave brief remarks about the support he felt. “We have a cool team here where everyone will show up for everybody,” Stacher said.
One of those teammates, sophomore Sean McBride, commented on his time at the event.
“It’s nice to learn about all these different countries that people are from. It’s a lot of new things and I’m just happy everyone’s here,” said McBride.
The event ended with closing remarks from KSC senior Rokeya Sarah, an international student from Bangladesh. Following the remarks, there was a reception with food served that represented one or more of the nations celebrated at the event.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
Tran serves on The Equinox’s staff.
