Students will have a chance to learn about foreign cultures at a variety of events in this week’s celebration of International Education Week.
Mississippi State University Cricket Club president Arun Sampathkumar said the cricket club is hosting a cricket clinic on the Drill Field from 2 to 5 p.m. today.
“The cricket clinic is an event where we let non-cricket playing cricket enthusiasts, people who do not know this game, we introduce them to this exciting game of cricket,” he said. “We basically give cricket enthusiasts an opportunity to try this game firsthand.”
A Maroon vs. White cricket exhibition match will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on the Drill Field Saturday.
“We put all the new members and the MSU alumni on the white team, and the maroon team is for the regular MSU team,” he said. “This basically is a match where the new members get a feel of how their team plays.”
Holmes Cultural Diversity Center assistant director Shaz Akram said there will also be a panel discussion from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the forum room in Griffis Hall today.
“We’ve got some economic professors on board who are going to conduct the discussion on the economic global crisis,” she said. “It’s something that not only affects American students, it affects international students, so we’ll get a diverse group of students to listen to that panel discussion.”
She said there will be an international fair on the Drill Field from 12 to 2 p.m. Wednesday.
“This year at the carnival we have African drumming,” Akram said. “Dr. Robert Damm’s percussion class I think is performing.”
MSU Ballroom Dance Club president Brandon Smith said the club will be performing at around noon or 12:30 p.m. on the Drill Field.
“I know we’re doing a West Coast swing, which is a newer, modern dance in the ballroom dance world And we’re probably going to be doing a salsa or a waltz, something like that,” he said. “This is just going to be a demonstration. We’re not going to be doing any kind of teaching.”
He said the Ballroom Dance Club exists so students can have fun and develop an appreciation for other cultures.
“As Americans, all the dances that we’ve created or done or we’ve used have been pulled from other cultures,” Smith said. “[Students] probably would have never gotten that exposure of Salsa, they probably would have never gotten that exposure of Cuba or the heritage of that dance had they not come out.”
Akram said information will be provided on study abroad program during the international fair.
“There’s going to be a table and Molly Watkins, she’s the coordinator of study abroad, will be on hand to hand out information to students if they want to consider opportunities of going abroad for a semester or a few weeks,” she said.
She said henna tattoos, temporary tattoos that go away after about a week, will be available to spectators at the fair.
“Henna is something which is very dominant in North Africa and Asia,” Akram said. ” It’s an art form that women use to decorate for various reasons like weddings and religious celebrations and just parties.”
Akram said the purpose of International Education Week is to educate American students.
“Our international students, as it is, they go through so many hoops to get into the U.S. – immigration wise, security wise, travel wise – all of them have sat on a airplane and traveled,” she said. “I know many of our American students have never been abroad or never even been out of the state of Mississippi.”
Junior international communications major and Japanese exchange student Shunsuke Sakai said this will be a good chance for international students to introduce their cultures to Americans.
“It is very hard to have a chance to talk to Americans for international students,” he said. “I think this is going to be a good chance to communicate with each other.”
Corresponding to International Education Week, Marketplace at Perry served international cuisine for lunch yesterday and facts from around the world will be broadcast on the Bully Board all week.