PICTURES: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8UyYtwiXC5zMWxsZjBSRzdqZ1E
The Ethnic Student Council (ESC) hosted the 2016 Unity Showcase to celebrate the different cultures represented by multicultural organizations on campus. This year, the theme was “Breaking Borders: The Road to a Better Tomorrow.” The clubs were asked to create a performance that conveyed the different types of borders their culture has faced throughout history.
An audience of over 300 people attended, making this event a huge success for the Ethnic Student Council. Tommy Daly and Yonaida Brito served as the Masters of Ceremonies, helping to transition between acts with well-placed jokes and puns.
The following organizations participated in this year’s Unity Showcase: the Filipino Association of Stevens Tech (FAST), the Chinese Student Association, the Black Student Union, the Korean Student Association, the Stevens Irish Association, the Indian Undergraduate Association, and the Latin American Association.
Participating groups were asked to prepare a performance to highlight important aspects of their culture and history, with a focus on the theme of “Breaking Borders.” These performances combined live skits with cultural arts and visual media. Here’s a rundown of the RSOs and their sketches:
FAST told the story of a Mary Poppins–esque nanny who helps to fill the generational gap between two artistically talented children and their traditional, strict Filipino father.
The Chinese Student Association explored traditional gender roles, as well as the ancient Chinese conflict with the Huns.
The Black Student Union danced to Beyoncé’s “Formation” as a montage of events and important figures in black history played in the background.
The Korean Student Association juxtaposed traditional Korean values with modern global thinking. Their narrative follows a young man who dedicates his life to tae kwon do but experiences conflicting feelings when a foreigner joins his family’s dojang.
In their first ever Unity appearance, the Stevens Irish Association presented a love story taking place during “The Troubles,” a time at which Ireland was experiencing civil conflict. The characters go on to work together to bring peace to the nation.
The Indian Undergraduate Association showed how love is able to bridge the division between Pakistan and India. The couple in their skit break borders by defying arranged marriages and religious stigmas in the name of true love.
In their act, the Latin American Association told the story of a young girl born in the United States but raised in Uruguay who returns to the U.S. for college and forms a multicultural club in order to reconnect with her culture.
At the end of the show, Stevens’ dance group TECHnique made a guest appearance. They demonstrated their wide range of styles by performing tap, salsa, lyrical, and hip hop dances.
The Unity Showcase concluded with an award ceremony. Administrative Assistant for Student Life Jane Gilbarty, Former president of the Ethnic Student Council Dharm Patel, and Financial Officer at United Nations Nadeje Bauzil determined the winners of the competition. The judges commented that they were very impressed by the messages being portrayed by the performances. The Stevens Irish Association won the Most Improved award for their growth in their first year of activity as an RSO. The Indian Undergraduate Association won the People’s Choice vote, which was open to all attendees. The Korean Student Association won the award for Best Relevance to the Theme: “Breaking Borders,” and the Korean Student Association and FAST also shared the award for Most Active multicultural organization. Finally, the Winner of the showcase was, for the second year in a row, the Filipino Association of Stevens Tech.
According to Norma Isa Martinez, a freshman and one of the leads of FAST’s performance, “We’re extremely proud of our performance. Even though we hit rough patches on the way to success, I’m glad the hard work everyone put into this night paid off.”
The Unity Showcase was a great opportunity for Stevens’ multicultural organizations to show their cultures and reflect upon boundaries they have encountered throughout history. Tori Larsen, a performer from TECHnique and attendee of the Showcase remarked, “It was really amazing to see the different performances, stories, and styles of the multicultural organizations here at Stevens. It was clear that there was a lot of effort put into each group’s performance.”
All of the RSOs presented the theme of “Breaking Borders” in a different way, but all of their examples serve as reminder that the goal of a global community should not be to build walls but rather to work together to tear them down.
