The cold and the wind did not deter hungry students from lining up outside the Glass Pavilion, eager for a chance to sample a variety of free international food.
The aroma of international cuisine filled the air at the Whiting School of Engineering (WSE)'s first ever welcome-back-to second semester multicultural lunch, held last Friday.
WSE Events Committee and Diversity Council members even donned ethnic attire for the luncheon.
Inside the Glass Pavilion stood small replicas of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Both miniature monuments were donations from a theatrical company, explained Nancy Worley, who coordinated the international exhibitions.
At the center of the room is an African exhibition, which features a multicolored bridal necklace and a walking stick from Kenya, alongside a Ghanaian mask.
Each side of the room was lined with tables, which offered a diverse menu of international cuisine: collard greens smoked with turkey, sauteed Chinese broccoli, tripoles negros con jamon (black beans, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro).
For dessert, baklava was served. The traditional Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dessert consists of phyllo, butter, walnut, sugar, cinnamon and honey lemon juice.
"This is a terrific event," WSE Dean Dr. Nicholas Jones announced as students enjoyed their food.
After his speech, which emphasized the importance of diversity, Jones encouraged the crowd to try different food and to enjoy themselves. And that's what people did--enjoyed themselves.
"It's a nice way to meet friends," said second-year graduate student Saurav Panda. Panda attended the event "because it's multicultural" and because he wanted to see one of his friends perform in Mishtique, an Indian dance group.
Though most people were dressed casually, some chose to wear clothing representative of their culture. Freshman Lucky Pellakura wore a traditional Northern Indian dress. "My grandmother gave it to me," said Pellakura, who came to the event for the food and to see what kinds of costumes other attendees would wear.
Students were also able to enjoy culturally-themed performances. Ketzev, a Jewish a cappella group, performed two songs.
Graduate student Deepali Tukaye, who is a member of Mishtique, said that their group was invited to perform by event organizers.
"It is our way to bring our Indian culture here," said Tukaye. "It was fun practicing," she said.
"It was excellent -- this is the first of its kind," said Kuri Gecau, an events staff member. "Everyone seems to enjoy themselves," he said.
Jeffrey Jarosz, who sits on WSE's Events Committee and Diversity Council and is also the chapter advisor of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), helped to come up with the idea of a multicultural welcome-back lunch.
In an e-mail announcing the event, Jarosz wrote, "Engineering is global; our workplaces are diverse, multicultural environments that demand tolerance and teamwork; and good engineers must have multicultural competence."
"I thought about having a diversity day for the School of Engineering. For the second semester, we wanted to have a welcome-back event," he said.
The two ideas merged, and the first "Welcome Back to Spring-Semester Multicultural Potluck" was created.
Jones said that he thought the event was a success. He believes that events such as the multicultural lunch are important because it brings a sense of community.
Jones said that the School of Engineering had been planning the lunch for a while, and that that this event had even more significance because of recent hardships that Hopkins students have had to endure. "It has been a rough month," he said.
