Fresno State’s Filipino club, Magkaisa, shared stories of American-Filipino culture through live singing and dancing as well as a play performance at Sunday’s Pilipino Culture Night.
The Satellite Student Union was filled with several different cultural members crafting an environment of cultural awareness for Fresno State’s Filipino students.
Fresno State graphic design student and Magkaisa club member, Courtney Thongsavath, said it was her third year attending Pilipino Culture Night.
“I’m really proud of them,” Thongsavath said of the performers and club members who helped put the night together.
“My friends ”” they are Filipino, and I was approached by the club to join four years ago,” Thongsavath said. “It’s a culture club, and I’m more attracted to cultural kinds of clubs.”
Thongsavath said that the club is worth joining, because you are able to meet new people and have an opportunity to learn about the Filipino culture.
“They’re not all Filipino,” Thongsavath said, “It’s very diverse ”” I’m not Filipino; I’m Laotian.”
Thongsavath said that Magkaisa members are proud to be Filipino and she wishes everyone were proud about their ancestry and origin.
“That’s what you get from this club,” Thongsavath said. “They are so proud of it.”
Fresno State freshman Colton Robinson, a non-club member of Magkaisa, said he thought the Pilipino Culture Night was fantastic.
“I was overjoyed to see some of my friends performing at their best, and it was an overall exciting experience to see the culture and dance and the music all come together into one fantastic performance,” Robinson said.
Robinson said it was an enlightening experience.
“I didn’t know much about the culture so I think seeing and experiencing some of the dance and rituals that they do was a unique experience,” Robinson said. “This is getting me excited ”” they have good music.”
Opening the night’s performance, Jose Nicholai Dionisio told audience members to cherish their loved one’s and encouraged them to partake in the night’s program.
Dionisio said that from the past three years of his Magkaisa membership, he thinks that regardless of all the mistakes and faults that people have, they still have their loved ones.
“Family is not bound by the blood that flows through our veins. It is also encompassed by the memories and experiences that we share with the people that we see every day,” Dionisio said.