Debarge, 25, English major, discusses the community that is created from the different students that join the club and how they come together to learn about one another. If you’re interesting in learning about the diverse differences between all the people from around the world and their cultures, then the EC International Club is the club to join.
What is the International Club about?
International club is a club for students from different backgrounds, different cultures and race to come together and learn about each other. It’s about getting to know each other and broadening our horizons to the world. Seeing what else is out there other than our town. Because of that, 50 percent of our club is social and 50 percent is educational.
How does the club learn about their member’s culture?
We normally do it by having club members do presentations. It’s usually in the form of powerpoint, or they can show a video. From that they’ll teach the club their culture or another culture. They’ll have their turn and show their insights, so its not limited to you having to do your own personal background. Typically our culture presentations talk a little bit about food, the culture, the daily life and the history.
What has been the most interesting presentation you have seen?
There was a presentation that displayed the animal rights issues in Thailand. Elephants there are trained to learn how to draw. They can draw extravagant things such a murals but they’re not trained in an ethical or humane way. They’re tortured.There was also a presentation about the troubles that are going on in Uganda or the Congo, things like that. But not all of our culture presentations are depressing, it’s just that those are the more serious issues.
What other activities does the club engage in?
We also go on different field trips. We go out to different restaurants and we also go to museums and festivals. Anything that is multicultural related, we do it.
Our most recent field trip was during spring break and we went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). We got to see different things and learn about different types of art. For example Muslim art, Egyptian, and East Asian.
Does the International Club host events on campus?
The most recent event we participated in was the World Tour Festival. We helped out the Inter-Club Council (ICC) and acted as guest services. Because we are International Club we couldn’t show bias to a country so our theme was international airport.