A line of national flags stood tall and proud by their carriers as they waited for the Cross-Cultural Celebration Parade to begin Monday.
Participants, organized by Student Involvement, dressed in different cultural attire carried flags from the Joyal Administration Building through Maple Mall, past the Rose Garden and ended in the Free Speech Area. The parade included conga players and a noble Chinese dragon.
Students and faculty united the flags into an arch behind a podium as they waited for speakers to take the stage.
Students were invited to place a red pin on a map to signify where they or their families originated. One by one, students filled the map with pins. Some of the pins covered parts of China, Japan, Mexico, West Africa, Thailand and Germany.
Foreign exchange students like Mutsumi Ogaki, a senior from Japan, shared their experiences of curiosity and enduring the nerves evoked from moving and starting college in a new country.
“For fall 2013, I came to Fresno from Japan. I was by myself with one huge suitcase that weighed more than me,” Ogaki said. “I was so excited to be a member of the diverse community. But I find myself being lost. Why? Because I tried to break out of my Japanese comfort zones and change my identity to just fit into American society.”
Ogaki continued and said, “But thanks to my experience at Fresno State now I know the key to diversity is opportunity. Fresno State gave me the opportunity to be different. Fresno State gave me the opportunity to make a home away from home here in Fresno.”
Monday’s celebration was also a way to encourage and educate American students of the opportunities provided by the Fresno State International Students and Programs Office.
Student global travelers like Matthew Dansereau, a senior who after taking a Chinese language course at Fresno State began to embrace the culture.
“I was very lucky to sit down and have lunch with international students in the dining hall. I would sit down and practice my speaking with them every day and every chance that I could,” Dansereau said.
He shared with the audience stories from his year abroad in Beijing, emphasizing how much people don’t know what they’re capable of until they go out and do it.
“My advice to anyone who is interested in learning a new language or understanding a new culture is just surround yourself with the people. They have so much to offer you,” Dansereau said.
Audience members were invited to come up on the stage to share the way they say “hello” in their native language. One by one the crowd cheered as it learned how to say “hello” in four other languages.
The Cross-Cultural Celebration continues this week with the Taste of Cultural Festival on Thursday from 6-8 p.m. in the Memorial Court by the Kennel Bookstore.